Authors

Discussion

Debordering processes and practices, which have facilitated freedom of movement within the European Union, have been accompanied by securitisation at external borders, as well as an expansion of bordering regimes within member-state territories. Central and Eastern Europe has been at the heart of these de-and rebordering projects; both as the setting for key sites of external border securitisation regimes, but also as CEE citizens have been targeted by so-called transitional controls in other EU countries, which have sought to border labour markets, social security and state-funded services.

The welcoming management of the mass displacement of Ukrainians in 2022, seemingly marks a departure from these policies into a debordered world where barriers to travel to and settle in other European countries are removed. This paper will analyse community responses to this displacement in Romania and Poland, and the ways in which they shaped policy-making. We theorise these responses as alter-geopolitical because they demonstrate how people came together to create alternative, non-violent securities. We explore how these responses have built connections in order not just to save lives but to enable those lives to be lived with dignity.