Interpreting spatial distribution of various socio-economic phenomena is often dependent on historic processes which lie hidden behind the current administrative structure. One way to evaluate the effect of these past space shaping events are phantom borders that disappeared from the official political maps but still somehow affect contemporary society. The influence should not be understood as direct, but in the sense of a primary factor that can be reproduced or weakened by processes in space after the official removal of the border from the administrative structure. In the Czech context, the historical Sudetenland border related to the post-war forced population movements serves as an example. The project aims to evaluate the effect of this specific phantom border on the socio-spatial differentiation of Czechia in time and seeks to answer the following research questions: What are the reasons for the enduring resistance of the border? Does the effect differ for various phenomena and for specific segments of the border and why? What similarities and differences exist between this border and other historical and contemporary borders in Central Europe in terms of their impact on socio-spatial differentiation? How can they be identified and measured?
Theoretically, the project is based on the latest scientific contribution to the topics related to border studies, forced migration and theories of regional development. In terms of methodology, quantitative and qualitative methods are combined in order to measure the effect of the phantom borders at the micro-level and appropriately interpret the results.
Expected/required skills of the applicant: advanced statistical and GIS skills, SPSS, ArcGIS, GeoDa
Deadline is closed
