Borders in Change. On Border Protection and Border Awareness since 1945

The article concentrates on institutionalised border protection as an indication of border areas. Policing the borders and their surrounding territory means to make them perceptible, but leads also to a special border awareness that enables populism and symbolic politics. The Schengen Process, whose history since 1945 will be briefly reported, is an example. Under the Schengen Agreements (1985/1990), systematic border control between the participating states has been abolished. Thereby an European success story was written that is linked to tourism development and implies a new perspective on borders. They are no longer symbols of separation, but associated with unity and security nowadays. In the near future further states will join the Schengen area as well as European border management will involve new technologies.