Mikhalev Aleksey

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  • ¹ 1, 2020

    • Borders, “Low Geopolitics”, and the Soviet Heritage in Modern Inner Asia

      The article is devoted to the description and analysis of the dynamics of everyday perception of the border and trans-border processes in the eastern part of Central Asia, which in fact represents the Mongolian world. The latter had been established many centuries before the appearance of modern states, but it is preserved to our days and is divided by the borders of states, where new identities that are inherent already in the Modernity epoch are being formed.

      The author elaborates his research task on the basis of the fact that, in addition to “high geopolitics”, based on the ideas of political experts about space, borders and the world order, there is also “low geopolitics”, which includes images formed by the media, culture, art, and everyday routines of people. Although “low geopolitics” often exists outside the official discourse, it does not only affect mass attitudes, but also to a greater or lesser extent affects the process of political decision-making and the implementation of the “border regime”, becoming the basis for collective political actions.

      A study conducted by the author allowed him to record serious changes in the daily perception of the border after the abolition of the visa regime between Mongolia and Russia. Both countries start to view the neighbor as an additional resource. Negative connotations in social networks and on the media pages are increasingly becoming peripheral. Although they do not disap- pear completely, they cease to predetermine collective actions and lose their mass character. Mutual interest allows one to overcome the existing differences in lifestyle and behavioral patterns. A special frontier zone is being formed, which today unites Russian and Mongolian civilizations rather than divide them.

      DOI: 10.30570/2078-5089-2020-96-1-138-153

      Pages: 138-153