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A tanulmány egy speciális megközelítés mentén vizsgálja a regionális integrációk hatását a határ menti területek fejlődésére. Az új gazdaságföldrajz releváns elméleti következtetéseiből kiindulva bemutatja a NAFTA és az Európai Unió keretében létrejövő területi dinamizmusokat, úgy hogy közben a látványos átalakuláson átesett amerikai–mexikói, és a nagy várakozások elé néző német–lengyel határ menti terület átalakulásának kritikai elemzését végzi el. Konklúzióként pedig megfogalmazza, hogy a regionális integrációkban nem jelölhető ki homogén fejlődési út a határ menti területek fejlődésére, így az új gazdaságföldrajz modellszerű megközelítéseit is fenntartásokkal kell kezelnünk.

Thanks to the all pervasive globalisation trends previous state borders have become more permeable and subject to change. As borders disappear previously separated borderlands can unite and form a spatial unit where more increased economic interactions could integrate both sides to the global economy.The European continent is such a case which previously had been puctuated by strong state borders. Today the continent sees the physical and intellectual disappearance of borders. Regional integrations – like the European Union – spur this process and helps the integration of borderland inside and outside of the common market. The creation of a common market was a huge success and still a great deal of benefits are anticipated from the fulfillment. We are not taken by surprise when we see a massive increase in the number of border related studies and researchers. This field is very popular today. However the difference between Western and Eastern Europe is huge because eastern state borders are still strong or they link peripheral regions. There - under the communist times- border crossings were restricted and trade links were quite poor. No wonder that the tendencies of the past are still determining. This paper focuses on of one the most peripheral external borderland of the Schengen zone: the Hungarian-Ukrainian borderland. Expectations are running high and the disappearance of the border is a long-awaited hope. First I take into consideration the relevant economic theory in connection with more intense borderland dynamics. In the literature the trade theory, new economic geography and the traditional location theory approach this question. The approaches do not give coherent and clear-cut answers so I have to turn my attention to different empirical approaches. These show huge heterogeneity depending on the nature and character of the borderlands. In the mentioned case, settlement-level data are not fully available so I conduct a questionnaire-based survey. With 432 cases collected from 6 micro regions from the Ukrainian side I can measure the possible cross-border dynamics of the borderless situation. With this method I follow the empirical approach of other regionalists who have come to the conclusion that the opening-up of borders can lead to different dynamism. In this way I try to shed new light on the development possibilities and more increased economic interactions the Hungarian-Ukrainian borderland. The most important conclusion of this paper is the fact that with more intensive cross-border interactions not the neighbouring borderaland benefits but centrally located or larger towns in Hungary. In this way I can point to the fact that borderland dynamics could be quite limited in the research area. With this paper I could confirm previous studies and point to the fact that empirical analysis is needed to understand the local dynamism of a borderless space.

The current analysis aimed to illustrate the centre-periphery dichotomy of Hungary on the level of settlements using the personal income approach for investigation. Income represents a special indicator correlating with lots of other social-economic variables. The income database is appropriate to illustrate the post-socialist transformation of the Hungarian economy and society with territorial consequences. The comparative overview of the regional level income per capita processes drew the attention to the differing development paths of regions forming two polarised groups. Income inequalities were calculated by the Hoover index and the weighted form of mean logarithmic variation. The rapidly growing inequalities started to stagnate after the mid 1990's and slight convergence appeared by the time of the millennium. One more stage was reasonable to divide - in 2008 with the blast of the global financial and economic crisis. The development stages of income inequalities provided the basis for aggregating the results of the local spatial autocorrelation calculation. The mapping of these results drew the income frontiers and their alterations during the last two and half decades. The boundary of the groups of settlements with similar high or low values formed the income frontiers that can be regarded as a special social frontier. This frontier determines more socio-economic processes and the regional policy should consider these to treat the significant social problems with their territorial consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]