Human and geographical issues of borderland terri- tories (borderlands) are not new. They are derivative: originally, the category of border appeared and in connection with it – the notion of borderlands and borderland issues. At the same time, these issues, in the context of specific international, national and regional chal- lenges, acquire new features and characteristics. They need not only updated research methods, but also unconventional approaches and interpreta- tions. In short, entire conceptual and terminological apparatus of limology theory (science of borders, borderlands, boundary lines and planes, etc.) re- quires theoretical comprehension as well as similar in subject matter scientific research disciplines - re- gionalistics, country and area studies. In recent decades, a number of terms, notions, concepts and categories related to the notion of bor- der entered scientific circulation and firmly rooted in. It depends primarily on emergence of new geospa- tial human realia such as globalization, international integration, formation of inter- and intra-state regions („Euroregions”), joint entrepreneurship, cross-border cooperation, etc. These relatively new notions include „border- lands”, „small border traffic”, „frontiers”, „borderzone” and others. Particularly important among them is the notion of „borderlands”. At first glance, it seems that everything is very simple. In fact, the question, first of all, needs argu- mented substantiation. In particular: a) borderlands are not an ordinary piece of territory adjacent to border and characterized by certain features. Because the very characteristic of „be- ing borderland” is the first essential feature of territory. The point is that these features must be suitable for typology of borderlands; b) it is important to take into account new factors of human geographical nature, which provide terri- tory with „borderland sounds”. Thus, for example, from borders towards the center of a country, covering a certain distance, „borderland infra- structure” is intensively formed, and this should be considered first; c) „borderlands” as a space are becoming a factor in settling in it of non-traditional enterprises and institutions, unprecedented human activities. Primarily, it concerns localization of recreational areas along borders, oriented to the needs of for- eign tourism. This is often associated with pres- ence on borderlands of certain (often unique) natural, and historical and cultural resources; d) in traditionally interpreted borderlands, „growth poles” are emerging now, once depressive small and medium urban settlements are activating; Journal of Geography, Politics and Society 2017, 7(2), 5–8 INTRODUCTION Oleh Shabliy Chair of Economic and Social Geography, Faculty of Geography, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Doroshenka 41, 79000 Lviv, Ukraine, e-mail: mvlakhr@ ukr.net Citation Shabliy O., 2017, Introduction, Journal of Geography, Politics and Society, 7(2), 5–8 6 Oleh Shabliy e) against the background of depression and re- cession of almost all regions of Ukraine, certain borderlands are showing signs of social and eco- nomic activation. Population in them is growing due to positive migration balance, emergence of jobs in free and special economic zones, etc. In short, instead of dividing function, borders are increasingly performing the integrational one. An important role here is played by “Carpathian” and “Buh” Euroregions. These and a number of other characteristics of mod- ern borderlands require paying to them more at- tention not only by state, but also by planning and design bodies, for example, Mistoproekt State Insti- tute of City Design, and scientists. All the more so, as all borderlands together with borders themselves have socio-economic and, above all, state political content. Among different kinds and types of borderlands of Ukraine, the West Ukrainian borderlands are spe- cific. Its delimitation requires a separate substantia- tion. It is primarily about defining of „width” (more precisely – „depth”) of the borderlands in relation to the border itself. And also about „limits” of the bor- derlands in relation to their neighbors – the South and North Ukrainian borderlands. The West Ukrainian borderlands include the ter- ritory of Ukraine, adjacent to the borders of Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. That means that, by its definition, the West Ukrain- ian borderlands have six sectors (according to the number of countries to which they come). In addi- tion, each of the sectors is characterized by historical and political, and ethnic specificity. Until recently, the western border had been not so much a border of Ukraine as a state border of the USSR. The paradox was that Ukraine as a pseudo- state (republic) had no jurisdiction over this border and its western region represented in the border- lands not Ukraine itself, but a „superpower” – the USSR. Moreover, this western border, contrary to the economic trend of integration of the so-called socialist countries, was probably the greatest bar- rier among all borders of the former USSR. It was most closely guarded. Deeply echeloned „defense” of various law enforcement agencies throughout the western region of Ukraine had the task to carry out psychological pressure on the local population and prevent penetration to the republic of „harmful” (from the viewpoint of totalitarian regime) ideas and thoughts. In fact, the entire western region was an ideological border. Although, the West Ukrainian borderlands are entirely Ukrainian territory, there representatives of neighboring nations had been massively living for a long time – Poles, Hungarians, Slovaks, Romani- ans, Moldovans and others. Now their culture and religion are in the process of revival. Just the same, cultural and religious, social and public life of Ukrain- ians across the border is gradually getting better. In scientific terms, delimitation of the West Ukrainian borderlands becomes important. Exist- ing research suggests that the notion of the West Ukrainian borderlands have several meanings: re- gional, state political, historical and geographical, and ethnocultural. In regional meaning, the West Ukrainian border- lands are a large region of Ukraine, which occupies its western part and is adjacent to its West, including the South- and North-West, border. It has some spe- cific features, including: a) geographical location – direct border with four countries of the former „socialist camp”, close- ness to developed countries of Europe, location on international transport corridors and power systems, etc.); b) high socio-economic and ethnic diversity. Along with the relatively highly developed Lviv Oblast, there are subregions with significantly below the nationwide level (the Zakarpattia and Ternopil Oblasts); c) presence of a powerful consolidating territorial core – Lviv, which is an important industrial and cultural center not only of the western region, but of Ukraine as a whole or even of pan-Europe- an scale; d) specifics of mentality of the population, its na- tionwide „political ambitions” that, due to exter- mination of elite strata by occupation regimes in the past, do not always correspond to the real possibilities. However, cultural potential of the region against the background of the state in general can be successfully used for national re- vival of Ukrainian people. State and political delimitation of the West Ukrainian borderlands is that it is a „borderline” in the western region, which is defined at several administrative and territorial levels: inter-oblast, inter-raion (the lowest raions), inter-community. The first level is inter-oblast. In this meaning, the West Ukrainian borderlands are a set of six or even seven oblasts adjacent to the state border (the Rivne, Volyn, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi Oblasts, and the Khmelnytskyi Oblast sometimes). So, this „borderline” shares borders with independent countries: southwestern Belarus, southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, northeastern Hungary, northern Romania and Moldova. Figura- tively speaking, there are the six countries per the six oblasts of Ukraine. Only the Zakarpattia Oblast in Introduction 7 a certain sense is „central” because it comes to the borders of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. The second level is inter-raion. The West Ukrain- ian borderlands include a „borderline”, composed of a set of the lowest administrative raions, directly adjacent to the state border, starting with Rokytni- anskyi Raion of the Rivne Oblast and ending with Sokyrianskyi Raion of the Chernivtsi Oblast. Al- together there are 32 such raions: Rokytnianskyi, Dubrovytskyi, Zarichnianskyi (the Rivne Oblast), Liubeshivskyi, Ratnivskyi, Shatskyi, Liubomylskyi, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Novovolynskyi (the Volyn Oblast), Sokalskyi, Yavorivskyi, Mostyskyi, Zhovkivs- kyi, Staro-Sambirskyi, Turkivskyi (the Lviv Oblast), Velyko-Bereznianskyi, Perechynskyi, Uzhhorodskyi, Berehivskyi, Vynohradivskyi, Khustskyi, Tiachivskyi, Rakhivskyi (the Zakarpattia Oblast), Verkhovynskyi (the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast), Putylskyi, Vyzhnytskyi, Storozhynetskyi, Hlybotskyi, Hertsayevskyi, Novo- selytskyi, Kelmentskyi and Sokyrianskyi (the Cher- nivtsi Oblast). And then, the biggest borderlands in the Zakarpattia Oblast (together with the Chernivtsi Oblast), which cover eight raions (see the article by I. Hudzelyak and I. Vanda in this collection). The third level – the West Ukrainian borderlands are formed by a set of territories of communities (in several cases, city councils, such as in Uzhhorod), adjacent to the state border. This is a line of about 20 km of width and of somewhat more than 1,200 km of length. It is truly borderland. Its „being bor- derland” is most clearly manifested near transborder crossings (Rava-Ruska, Mostyska, Dobromyl and oth- ers – in the Lviv Oblast). Borderlands are a complex phenomenon in geo- spatial organization of a state. Therefore, they should be studied on an interdisciplinary basis. Except hu- man geography, the following sciences should play a significant role in the study of borderlands: eco- nomics, sociology, jurisprudence, international rela- tions, ecology, tourism studies, etc. The most impor- tant issues of interdisciplinary scientific research of the West Ukrainian borderlands are: 1) Problems of sustainable development of the West Ukrainian borderlands in the context of policy of the Eastern Partnership and European integration. In the modern conditions of the hybrid war of Russia against Ukraine and the re- vival of the Cold War between East and West, the West Ukrainian borderlands are the most stable among all regions of Ukraine. In this stability, the role of Poland and Slovakia is especially impor- tant. 2) Study of security aspects of the West Ukrain- ian borderlands as a representant of all Ukraine. Above all, there are problems of geodemograph- ical, and ecological and geographical security; problems of geodemographical security are pri- marily connected with negative change of repro- ductive potential of the borderlands, particularly, intensive aging of population, increased external migration of local population and transit interna- tional migration of population of Asian subcon- tinent countries; ecological and geographical re- gional problems are based on: a) western transfer of polluted air masses from Central and Eastern Europe; b) presence of a dense network of roads, including automobile transport corridors of in- ternational importance. 3) Scientific substantiation of a network of pro- tected areas of various types. Creation of natural national parks, bilateral and biosphere reserves, landscape reservants and others only partially solves the problem of environmental affairs. Pro- tection of environment should be put on a com- plex landscape basis, especially with taking into account the systemacity in functioning of natural and natural-anthropogenic complexes. 4) Substantiation of location of the West Ukrainian borderlands in inter-Ukrainian, regional-Ukraini- an and international geospatial division and in- tegration of labor. This is connected to the fact that by this time, the West Ukrainian borderlands have been functioning as a system of depressive and recessive territories of Ukraine with specific – actually borderland – geographical location. 5) Comprehensive substantiation of impact of cre- ated trans-European transport corridors on en- tire geospatial organization of society of the West Ukrainian borderlands in the context of such im- pact on neighboring to the West Ukrainian bor- derlands borderland territories of neighboring countries. 6) Research of the socio-economic problem of qual- ity of life of population. Regarding this issue, all other issues, including the aim of their solution, are derivative and often act as factors. 7) Research of socio-economic, demographic, eco- logical and geographic, and security problems of development of cross-border cooperation of Ukrainian sections of the borderlands with rel- evant sections of certain countries: Ukrainian- Polish, Ukrainian-Belarusian, Ukrainian-Slovak, Ukrainian-Hungarian, Ukrainian-Romanian and Ukrainian-Moldovan. 8) Substantiation of production and non-produc- tion cross-border infrastructure, particularly com- munication problems of creation and develop- ment of cross-border logistics points, hubs, ways, including multitransport highways. In particular, 8 Oleh Shabliy construction of borderland lateral roads deserves attention. 9) In conditions of development of post-industrial and informational society, it is advisable to sub- stantiate „Schemes of development and geospa- tial organization of society” on the both sides of modern inter-state borders with taking into ac- count further borderland integration of territo- ries of neighboring countries. 10) Elaboration and implementation of a system of cybersecurity of life activity of territorial socio-, economic- and ecological-geographical sub- regions of West Ukrainian oblasts. This system should have all features of rapid response sys- tems, i.e. it should identify the nature of a cyber danger on-line, develop and implement in the same mode corresponding solutions, predict fu- ture conditions of respective complexes of bor- derland subregions, etc. The present collection of scientific articles by scien- tists-geographers of Ukraine covers a wide range of issues and problems of the West Ukrainian bor- derlands, which have been relevant the last two or three decades. Here, in particular, an attempt to explore new approaches to the notions of „border” and „borderlands” and related concepts was made; human, cultural and educational, natural and geo- graphical (including recreational) potential of the region in general as well as its individual model sub- regions (the Lviv Oblast, Bug Euroregion, Lviv) was considered. An attempt to consider electoral mobil- ity of population of the region as well as reforming of its administrative and territorial structure was made. In the collection, the West Ukrainian borderlands are considered in most cases at the inter-oblast level. There are articles, dedicated to socio-geographical problems, the research of and solution to which would positively influence the life activity of pop- ulation of the region as well as Ukraine in general. These problems include economical-, socio-, demo- and ethno-, ecological- and political-geographical. Historical and cultural heritage of the largest urban center in the region – the city of Lviv – was separate- ly highlighted. The scientists – the authors of texts of this col- lection – belong to research centers of several coun- tries: Poland (one center – Słupsk), Ukraine (four centers – Lviv, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Lutsk). Editor is grateful to all authors and co-authors of articles texts. Oleh Shabliy