CROSS-BORDER MOBILITY: SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF SHORT-DISTANCE TRANSBOUNDARY MIGRATION IN GERMANY.
Final Report Abstract
This project, designed shortly before the outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic, aimed at understanding the dynamics of intra-European labour mobility based on cross-border commuters' motivations and experiences. The main aim of the research was explained as follows in the research proposal: “Following the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, the EU has encouraged the spatial mobility of labor across borders by removing the last obstacles for labor mobility with the declaration of the regulation on employment in 2011.[…] Cross-border commuting practiced at short distance has been generally researched with quantitative approaches in the field of border studies, focusing on policy issues, labor market dynamics, labor mobility, and issues on taxation and housing, and has also been investigated in geography and urban studies, generally with a focus on the relation between globalisation and its impacts on border cities. However, research in these fields have not yet adequately addressed the issue from a transnational migration perspective. This research aims at filling this gap by focusing on commuters’ experiences and mobility practices.” Shortly before the funding was granted, we experienced the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic which radically impacted our daily life practices, work, and particularly mobility. With the measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus in local, governmental and EU levels, once again we have faced the importance of cross-border mobility (CbM) in Europe. One of the first policies taken during the first phases of pandemic was re-introducing the nation state borders, which is referred in the literature as re-bordering or recently as covidfencing. The practices of re-bordering increased the insecurities and have shown several structural problems: Problems of multi-level governance: Policies that regulate border mobility are made in regional level, governmental level and European Union level. There are also bilateral agreements between different countries. Bilateral agreements help to make policies that meet the specific needs and conditions of different regions, however, multi-level governance can also cause incontinences or even conflicts which increase insecurities for actors and border regions in general. Actors: The research findings show that there is still a "top to bottom" policy making in regard to border regions and border mobility which neglects specific needs of the border regions. Inclusion of regional and local organisations in policy-making processes are vital. Border Asymmetries: There are still structural inequalities among different European countries, in terms of economic and legal structures, especially between the older member states and Central/Eastern European member states. These border asymmetries play crucial role in defining main characteristics of the mobility practices, as the motivations of commuters are linked with the infrastructures (public transport, urban planning), housing market, wages, living cost, social security policies, public care and health services and in turn this mobility have a great impact on these structural settings. Crisis and Agency: The research showed that during the Covid 19 crisis, regional actors have mobilized their capacities to cope with the difficulties of rebordering policies. Frequent policy changes during the lockdowns strengthened local actors, communication between border regions, and institutional cooperations.
Publications
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Cross-border Labor (Im)Mobility: Commuting in Times of Pandemic and Border Closures. 15th European Sociological Association Conference, Barcelona Spain. 31 Aug - 3 September 2021
Karacan, E.
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Current Approaches and Perspectives on Cross-Border Labor Mobility in Europe, International Workshop, Technical University Berlin. 7.10.2022
Karacan, E.
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Nachbarschaft in Europa: Grenzasymmetrien und Ungleichheiten - Genshagen Stiftung - Brandenburg, Germany, 15.07.2022
Karacan, E.
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Exploring Cross-Border Labor Commuting as a Practice of Tactical Mobility. Pogranicze. Polish Borderlands Studies, 11, 61-88.
Karacan, Elifcan
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Impact of needs and affordability factors in defining spatial quality: the case of Berlin. Conference on Quality of Space, Berlin - Germany. 25.5.2023
Karacan, E. & Diana Chvirova
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Impacts of Spatial Division of Labour and Multi-Governance on Quality of Space: Comparison of Germany's Border Regions. Quaderni di Sociologia
Karacan, E.
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Vulnerability Frame of the Intra-European Cross-border Mobility: Multi-governance, crisis, and coping strategies, IMISCOE International Conference, Warsaw-Poland. 05.07.2023
Karacan, E.
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Border Mobility in Times of Crisis. Twente University, 5.07.2024
Karacan, E.
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Policy Dimension of the Intra-European Mobility. Congress of the Researchers of Borders and Borderlands (De)Constructing Borders in Borderlands Studies, Wrocław and Opole, 16–18 September 2024
Karacan, E. & Fischer Caroline
