Endnote export
%T "De-Facto Borders" as a Mirror of Sovereignty: The Case of the Post-Soviet Non-Recognized States %A Kolosov, Vladimir %A Zotova, Maria %J Historical Social Research %N 3 %P 178-207 %V 46 %D 2021 %K Post-Soviet de facto states; border regime; cross-border economic discontinuities; international border; cross-border interactions; pandemic; De-Facto borders; Post-Soviet Non-Recognized States; Transnistria; Abkhazia; South Ossetia; Nagorno-Karabakh; Donetsk People's Republic; Luhansk People's Republic %@ 0172-6404 %~ GESIS %X The crisis of statehood in many countries has resulted in the emergence of non-recognized states that have become an intrinsic feature of the world geopolitical order. Using the concept of bordering, we study a specific type of border that was shaped in the course of state-building processes and conflicts with parent states. Some "de-facto borders" are not stable; in addition, non-recognized states often do not control all their declared territory. Looking in detail at the situation in six non-recognized republics in the post-Soviet space, we show the asymmetry of their borders with the parent state and with the external patron. Comparing the basic socio-economic indicators by regions, we conclude that non-recognized states still lag far behind both their parent and their patron state. Citizens of non-recognized republics regularly visit border areas of the patron and parent states and spend a considerable part of their income there. This can contribute to the normalization of relations between adversaries, but at the same time can perpetuate the separation between them. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the barrier functions of the borders with parent states. %C DEU %G en %9 journal article %W GESIS - http://www.gesis.org %~ SSOAR - http://www.ssoar.info