Panel

From open and connected borders to transnational cooperation and integration processes in Southeast Asia

Panel convenors :
Nathalie Fau, n.fau@wanadoo.fr , University of Paris 7, SEDET
Muriel Charras (CNRS, CASE)

The purpose of this panel is to analyze the impact of cross border and transnational dynamics on territory and society. Globalization places the territories into dynamics of refoundation, spurred either by States and major international organizations, or, and increasingly, by local or foreign forces emancipated from the control of institutions and acting outside the usual national framework. This panel focuses on the issue of the evolution of territories in regional situations that have been influenced by major transnational dynamics or in the situation of transnational areas under construction. Transnational dynamics – linked to the effects of regionalization, to foreign investments, to migration and mobility, to cross-border initiatives, or to the setting of development corridors ... - , that can be similarly observed in various places, result in significant changes in the territorial layout on various scales.
Due to history, South-East Asia show complex combinations of relations between terrestrial areas – continental, isthmian or insular – and the maritime areas which have determined economic specializations since the time of early exchanges. Colonisation and national building had created strong borders and had developed countries oriented towards their national centre. The present transnational dynamics are re-shaping these patterns, changing the balance of territories which have been strengthened for several centuries between the highlands and the coastal territories, between longitudinal (transcontinental) and transverse (trans-oceanic) axes following selective modalities depending on both the points of view of the actors and of the territories depending on private and public investment and the new forms of polarisation.
The approach might be historical as the process focuses on territories which were structured by ancient maritime and inland routes. But the scope mainly concerns contemporary issues when studying for example economic development corridors, transnational infrastructure projects, growth triangles, twin-cities across the border or the emerging transnational dynamics related to trade and to human mobility, both on the long term migration as well as on the short term (labor commuting, tourism mobility…). This panel intend to be an opportunity to compare the cross border and transnational dynamics taking place in maritime Southeast Asia (like along and across the Straits of Malacca) and in continental Southeast Asia (like in the Greater Mekong Sub-region –GMS- continental corridors). At last, the panel will focus on the ongoing transition which leads the developments of cross-border trade to become a broader transnational integration process.
Please send your abstract of about 300 words plus a short biosketch to Nathalie Fau : n.fau@wanadoo.fr