((In)security at the internal Schengen border

(In-)Security at the internal Schengen border

Security practices of state and non-state actors at the German-Polish border

The social integration across internal European borders has long been a relevant aim of the European Union. However, the common European border regime is being challenged constantly from various sides and backgrounds. Not only the external fringes of the EU but also the internal borders have become an occasional object of criticism. Especially with regard to the Polish-German border, a border that has considerably gained public media’s attention as a place of insecurity, demands are emerging that stand in contrast with the proclaimed cooperative approach of the internal EU border regime.

The research project “(In-)Security at the internal Schengen border. Security practices of state and non-state actors at the German-Polish border” analyses how the relation between border and security is produced in discursive and everyday non-discursive practices. The research will particularly focus on the negotiation of the relation of state and non-state securitizing practices at the border between Germany and Poland. This will be done by combining the qualitative analysis of newspaper articles, social media communication and political party programs with interviews with actors of security authorities and locals of the border region. Visual methods are applied in the research process. The project thus integrates both discourse analytic and practice-theoretical/reconstructive approaches.

The research project is conducted at the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig and the Technical University Dresden, Germany.

Contact persons:

• at the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography:
  Dr. Kristine Beurskens
  Nona Renner, M.A.
• at the Technical University Dresden :
  Prof. Dr. Judith Miggelbrink