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Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are two leading countries of Central Asia, mutually beneficially cooperating in the field of cross-border tourism. In this study, the tourism potential of the border areas was determined on the basis of tourism infrastructure and settlement density data. The geographic coverage of the study included nine regions located within the limits of the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border. We proposed the application of a rating assessment of the estimated tourism resource potential of Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border regions, which provides the basis for comparative analysis of tourism development and promising opportunities for the large territory. The method allows one to achieve an understanding of the availability and volume of tourist and recreational resources in order to assess the tourism potential in the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border area in the framework of sustainable development. The study results generally allow the availability level of border region tourism resources to be determined and areas with more favorable and attractive conditions for cross-border tourism development to be identified.

The aim of this paper is to present the issue of border traffic of foreigners and their expenses on the Polish maritime border. The study is based on quantitative data on border traffic and expenses of foreigners in Poland. The time of the study was 2014–2021. Thus, the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on foreigners’ mobility and spending in Poland was additionally taken into account. For the purpose of this paper, the following study methods were adopted: reference literature analysis, secondary data analysis and comparative analysis. The paper mainly uses data from official statistics and the Border Guard. The study has shown that the Polish maritime border generates the smallest volume of border traffic, however, its share increased during the analysed period from 0.7% in 2014 to 0.8% in 2021. Nevertheless, it is foreigners crossing the maritime border who on average spend in Poland more than twice as much as foreigners crossing the Polish land border. In 2020, they spent the most on non-food goods (40%) and services (34.7%). As the study results reveal, their spending patterns and travel purposes are different from those of foreigners crossing the land border. The potential that foreign visitors bring is significant for the development of border areas in such sectors as tourism, services and trade. The analysis of the motivation of foreigners crossing the sea border makes it possible to shape the regional development policy of this particular area.

This paper provides an overview of the process of residential suburbanisation in the hinterland of Bratislava. The study focuses on the municipalities around the Austrian border area. The main aim of the paper is to investigate the characteristics of cross-border suburbanisation, which is a significant spatial phenomenon in the municipalities of northern Burgenland and the south-eastern part of Lower Austria. The analysis has a spatio-temporal dimension, as it depicts the time-space characteristics of the phenomenon – both for a single time point, as well as for a time series from the approximate beginning of the onset of suburbanisation up to the present. While monitoring the growth of the number of Slovaks in the study area, we observed a gradual increase in all the selected municipalities of the Austrian border area, with the distance from Bratislava being a significant factor here. The analysis of migration in the surveyed municipalities showed predominantly positive migration efficiency – immigration was negated by emigration only to a small extent (compared to suburbanisation in the Slovak hinterland of Bratislava, which is, however, relatively high). The structural characteristics of Slovak immigrants, where the younger age group of 30 to 44 years followed by a child component up to 14 years predominated, attest to the ongoing process of suburbanisation. The research confirmed the advancing residential suburbanisation and expansion of the cross-border suburban hinterland of Bratislava.

The mining area along the border of Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi generally contains two thick layers of confined aquifer sandstone, which form a composite hard roof. This constitutes the main hidden risk affecting the safe production of coal seams in this region.The composite hard roof is formed by two layers of thick confined water‐bearing sandstone in the border mining area of Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi and is the main hidden danger affecting the safe production of coal seams. To clarify the evolution law of mining‐induced water‐conducting fractures under such occurrence conditions and prevent roof water damage, this paper comprehensively uses laboratory tests, theoretical analysis and UDEC numerical simulation methods to study the fracture characteristics and migration laws of high and low thick sandstones. The instability conditions of confined water‐bearing sandstones in different layers are analyzed, the distribution law of water‐conducting fractures is expounded, and the evolution characteristics of fractures are further quantitatively described by fractal theory. The results show that the overburden rock transport in the quarry is controlled by the composite rock beams, and the high rock beams will form a “masonry beam” structure, while the low rock beams will form a “step” structure under the influence of secondary displacement and rotation; the superposition of the initial breakage of the composite rock beam and the cycle breakage forms the “pulse” water influx characteristic and the “slow increase—sudden increase—stable” fissure development law; the change of the number of fractures is closely related to the transportation of the composite rock beams, which is divided into three stages of “slow growth‐accelerated growth‐periodic increase.” The fractal dimension quantitative cloud diagram further characterizes that the overall development pattern of water‐conducting fissures remains unchanged under the influence of mining, and the main water‐conducting channels are the fall zone and the vertical breakage fissure zones on both sides. The research results of this paper will provide a scientific basis for water control work in the working face under similar stratigraphic conditions. Multiple research methods were employed to analyze the fracture characteristics and migration patterns of the two thick layers of pressurized water‐bearing sandstone commonly found in the mining area bordering Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, further elucidating the evolution characteristics of mining‐induced water‐conducting fissures.

Paraguayan microcredit poverty-alleviation programs are built around instrumentalizing women's economic ties through group-based loans guaranteed by no more than the promise of women's solidarity and joint liability for their collective loan repayment. I track the production and regulation of the social unit of borrowing in different aspects of microcredit, drawing on examples of individual loans, loans to \"committees of women entrepreneurs,\" credit scores, and a short-lived program of \"men's committees.\" I illustrate how the institutionalized management of creditworthiness actually produces the very flexible and relational feminized borrowers to which microcredit initiatives seek to appeal and, in so doing, creates certain kinds of gendered sociality by enacting and embodying different social units of debt.

This study presents the natural and recreational prerequisites for the formation and development of the cross-border tourism industry in the Kazakh-Russian border region in the context of modern integration processes. The purpose of the research is to identify the main natural and recreational resources in the border regions of Northern Kazakhstan, among which the border regions are Kostanay, Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan regions, and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation bordering on them. The scientific significance of the article is determined by the fact that it analyzes the natural and recreational resources of 10 regions of the Kazakh-Russian borderland as a basis for the formation and development of joint tourist destinations. The main research method is a spatial analysis of the location of natural and recreational resources of border areas using modern software, as a result of which maps of natural and recreational resources in the study area were compiled. In the course of the study, it was revealed that the Pavlodar and North Kazakhstan regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Altai Krai, Novosibirsk and Omsk regions of the Russian Federation have the greatest potential for the development of cross-border tourism.

The ambition of this special issue is to contribute to contemporary scholarly analyses of border security by bringing more focus onto a specific field of inquiry: the practices of the plurality of power-brokers involved in the securing of borders. Border security is addressed from the angle of the everyday practices of those who are appointed to carry it out; considering border security as practice is essential for shedding light on contemporary problematizations of security. Underscoring the methodological specificity of fieldwork research, we call for a better grounding of scholarship within the specific agencies intervening in bordering spaces in order to provide detailed analyses of the contextualized practices of security actors.

This paper analyses the geographical feature of the Croatian-Hungarian cross-border area, focusing on recent changes and socio-economic trends of the last decade. In the paper current demographic, cross-border traffic and mobility trends are examined. Special attention is devoted to the spatial structure of the area and its key demographic indicators, modified during the last intercensal period between 2001 and 2011. Demographic data are analysed on the level of NUTS III units, as they provide the statistical basis for planning and they aredesignated as co-operation units in the joint bilateral cross-border operational programme financed by the EU. The transition that has taken place in the last years is observed in relation to the Croatian accession to the EU and to the full membership achieved in 2013. The Croatian-Hungarian cross-border co-operation has been intensified since 2007. More EU funds became available than before, which brought about the possibility for stronger cohesion in the area and, accordingly, it has triggered territorial transformations. The main goal of this research is to define whether changes having taken place in the border region since 2007 created a genuine transborder region. The assumption is that current development trends, although the most intensive in the last 100 years, are still not sufficient enough to mitigate the huge geographical handicap, the transport and language barriers and in general the strong periphery status of the border area in comparison to the capital cities Zagreb and Budapest.

Aim: The aim of the study is to review the new system of common situational pictures and risk analyses, in line with the ambitions of the EU to strengthen the governance of the Schengen area, and to explore and introduce the different indicators related to these situational pictures. Methodology: Through document and content analysis, the author examined the theoretical and legal background and regulatory context. The author also identified synergies between the functioning of the JHA forums of the Council of the EU and the content of the situation pictures. Findings: The Commission’s Schengen 2022 report was found to have facilitated the EU Council’s dialogue on justice and home affairs policy and the monitoring of the Schengen acquis. The subsequent Schengen Barometer and the Barometer Plus tools, launched in March 2023, will effectively identify vulnerabilities and risks and help coordinate the EU response. In addition, from 2024, the three-tier structure of the Schengen Scoreboard will provide details on the different dimensions of the functioning of the Schengen area, including the state of external and internal borders, as well as internal security. Value: No comprehensive research has previously been carried out that has dealt with the situational pictures of the Schengen area in a complex way. This study is the first to present the existence and functioning of these situation maps, allowing a detailed analysis of aspects not previously explored. Aim: The aim of the study is to review the new system of common situational pictures and risk analyses, in line with the ambitions of the EU to strengthen the governance of the Schengen area, and to explore and introduce the different indicators related to these situational pictures. Methodology: Through document and content analysis, the author examined the theoretical and legal background and regulatory context. The author also identified synergies between the functioning of the JHA forums of the Council of the EU and the content of the situation pictures. Findings: The Commission’s Schengen 2022 report was found to have facilitated the EU Council’s dialogue on justice and home affairs policy and the monitoring of the Schengen acquis. The subsequent Schengen Barometer and the Barometer Plus tools, launched in March 2023, will effectively identify vulnerabilities and risks and help coordinate the EU response. In addition, from 2024, the three-tier structure of the Schengen Scoreboard will provide details on the different dimensions of the functioning of the Schengen area, including the state of external and internal borders, as well as internal security. Value: No comprehensive research has previously been carried out that has dealt with the situational pictures of the Schengen area in a complex way. This study is the first to present the existence and functioning of these situation maps, allowing a detailed analysis of aspects not previously explored.