Shuvalov V.E. Theoretical limology as an interdisciplinary area of science

Abstract

The phenomenon of the border has become a topical topic of research in the sciences of various profiles. As a result, limology as a science of boundaries has developed rapidly and has become a de facto interdisciplinary field of study. However, in recent decades, the political science concept of limology has dominated, which is a reflection of the modern mainstream aimed at studying state borders and related border and trans-border phenomena. In foreign limology, the term Border Studies has come into wide use, which reflects limological studies mainly in the social sciences and the humanities. This approach narrows the concept of limology. At the same time, the development of limology not only “in depth”, but also “in breadth” due to the involvement in research in various sciences of new types and forms of boundaries has led to the ambiguity and uncertainty of many concepts and terms used in the study of boundaries and related properties and processes. All this determines the relevance of the formation of theoretical limology, which is defined as a scientific interdisciplinary direction / discipline that develops general approaches, principles and methods for analyzing the territorial / spatial boundaries of various types and hierarchical levels outside their object specificity. The basic tasks of theoretical limology can be such as the development of a general conceptual apparatus, a set of specific modes of border delimitation; streamlining approaches to the allocation of boundary functions; development of general foundations for their systematization, approaches to the study of border and trans-border phenomena. Particular attention is paid to the analysis and ordering of border functions, as well as to the phenomena of borderliness and borderliness.