Chen, X: As Borders Bend

As do other mighty forces such as wars, nationalist aspirations, and the shifting courses of great rivers, globalization changes the world's borders by bending them out of shape and creating new transnational spaces. State political boundaries no longer draw the definitive line in people's lives they once did. Borders continue to contain self-described national populations and national activities, but the penetration of economic globalization via growing cross-border trade, investment, and resurgence of myriad regional ethnic groups is pushing and stretching the limits of borders into both interactive spaces and contested terrains. Indeed, new power centers with their own identities are springing out of once politically trivial and economically marginal landscapes. While the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the SARS outbreak of 2003 prompted states to tighten border controls, their efforts amount to only a temporary reversal of a powerful long-term trend toward more open borders and the interactive transnational spaces that openness fosters.This innovative book examines the complexities of de-bordering and re-bordering through a structured comparison of seven transborder subregions along the western Pacific Rim and an extended comparative analysis of the U.S.-Mexico border and several European border regions. Xiangming Chen offers a synthetic explanation for the complex and diverse processes and outcomes of economic growth, social transformation, infrastructure development, and urban landscapes in the new transnational spaces around the porous and mutated borders on the Pacific Rim and beyond.

This innovative book examines the complexities of de-bordering and re-bordering through a systematic comparison of seven transborder subregions along the western Pacific Rim and an extended analysis of the U.S.-Mexico border and several European border regions. Xiangming Chen offers a synthetic explanation for the complex and diverse processes and outcomes of economic growth, social transformation, and urban landscapes in the new transnational spaces around the porous and mutated borders of the Pacific Rim and beyond.

Part I: Bending Borders and Emerging Transnational SpacesChapter 1: Transborder Dynamics in a Global Era: Situating the Asia-Pacific Transborder SubregionsChapter 2: The Asia-Pacific Transborder Subregions: The Phenomenon, Historical Backdrop, and ConceptualizationChapter 3: From Different Perspectives to an Integrated Framework: A Synthetic ExplanationPart II: Diversity among Three East Asian CasesChapter 4: Binding Porous Borders: The Greater Southeast China SubregionChapter 5: Bridging Ocean Boundaries: The Bohai/Yellow Sea SubregionChapter 6: Spanning Socialist and Post-Socialist Borders: The Greater Tumen Subregion and BeyondPart III: Comparisons, Generalizations, and ImplicationsChapter 7: Four Cases across Southeast AsiaChapter 8: Variations between the Pacific and the AtlanticChapter 9: Re-bordering Transnational Spaces: Theoretical Contributions and Practical Challenges