Összehasonlító társadalomföldrajzi vizsgálatok négy európai határvidéken

Objectives of the research: 1. to compare the characteristics of four border regions, namely the Ukrainian -Hungarian, Slovakian-Hungarian, Austrian-Hungarian and Irish-Northern-Irish ones and to synthesize the results. 2. to identify the main factors having an effect on the social, economic and political relations across these borders. It was revealed that the main factors affecting the border area: Permeability of the frontier depends on the political situation, presence of checkpoints on the border (difficulty or perceived difficulty in crossing, militarization, etc.). Legal border crossing was more frequent when there were close familiar relationships between people living on two sides of the border. The intensity of illegal border crossing depended on the economic and political situation. In areas where there is a big difference in the price of certain goods between the two countries, some inhabitants try to exploit this. The findings suggest that another main factor of border life and contact is the fact whether the area is rural or urban. It appeared to be easier to build cross-border relationships in urban areas.