More than a border effect. Ordinary politicization and struggles of belonging in a Swiss border municipality

Can living near a national border have an effect on the politicization of individuals? To answer this question, this article challenges the results put forward by some European Border Studies scholars granting the border a major role in the construction of political behavior. Based on a fieldwork carried in a border commune in the canton of Geneva, it shows how the effects of the border context vary according to residential trajectories and the role individuals play in local struggles. It suggests that the border provides a medium for politicisation and concludes that the border is not a spatial determinant but one of the “localized mediations” contributing to the construction of political attitudes and practices.