THE CZECH-POLISH AND AUSTRIAN-SLOVENIAN BORDERLANDS - SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND TYPOLOGY OF REGIONS

Cross-border relations and borderland issues are presented in this paper using two borderlands in Central Europe: Austrian-Slovenian and Czech-Polish. In the theoretical part, various types of cross-border links are described, mostly depending on previous political circumstances. Subsequently, the most important historical milestones in the development of the two borderlands are identified. This comparison of borderlands dwells on the statistical analysis of demographic and other socioeconomic characteristics, including the accessibility and types of settlement systems in the four countries. Finally, a cluster analysis and the development of five relatively homogeneous groups of territorial units presents a new viewpoint in the study of border areas, and enables a typology of both borderlands based on socioeconomic characteristics.