Territorial subdivisions and geographic borders are essential for understanding phenomena in sociology, political science, history, and economics. They influence the interregional flow of information and cross-border trade and affect the diffusion of innovation and technology. However, it is unclear if existing administrative subdivisions that typically evolved decades ago still reflect the mos...

Contrary to an important explanatory principle of traditional dialectology, according to which (political) borders impede communication and thereby lead to the emergence of linguistic differences, I will argue that putative or factual linguistic differences are used for the social construction of (political) borders, and that existing (political) borders are symbolically reinforced by attractin...

1. introduction cities are geographic phenomenon that always leads major developments in human history. they are not only interacting with their local hinterland, but also interacting with other cities in economic and social fields. with increasing developments in recent decades in different areas, more placements for cities and geographical studies have been provided again. among the reasons t...

We take for granted a world in which geographical borders lines separating physical spaces are of primary importance in determining legal rights and responsibilities. Territorial borders, generally speaking, delineate areas within which different sets of legal rules apply. There has until now been a general correspondence between borders drawn in physical space (between nation states or other p...