Construction of local identities alongside Schengen border – Bordering and crossbordering processes along Croatia-Slovenia border

This paper examines realities on Croatia-Slovenia border in the past twenty years. This borderline changed its hardness/openness four times in the mentioned period. The aim of the paper is to research how this “wall” influenced territorial identities in the borderland, attitude of the local population towards the border, and cross border commuting in the research area. The empirical research will include surveys conducted with the random sample of local population on the level of settlements and municipalities in two key historical regions along the border. At the same time, analysis of other two historical border regions is examined throughout field observation methods and population censuses analysis. The focus will be on the identification of territorial identities (local, regional, national, European), indicating the historical-geographic and socio- geographic factors that influenced them. Moreover, local identities will be emphasized in relation to the border and Slovenia, including the attitude of the local population towards the latter. At the end, future perspective is given regarding the Croatian admission to the EU, and how this process will change existing perceptions for the fourth time in such a short period.