This volume explores the role of territory in the creation maintenance and extension of a new
type of frontier the electronic frontier from a social and economic point of view. It departs
from the earlier concepts of borders - state social economic ethnic religious etc. - to
investigate the fluidity of borders and their shift towards an axis-based paradigm within the
free-movement European Union. Specifically the authors will examine a) the metamorphoses of
frontiers between the real and the virtual b) the importance of space (territory) in the new
information society and the Digital Single Market and c) the evolution of electronic frontiers
in relation to globalization and the network society. What happens when the Internet collides
with new social and economic borders? In the past borders have been perceived from only a
national state point of view. Now new types of borders or frontiers such as social economic
ethnic religious frontiers can be discussed. The electronic frontier is the result of a
socio-economic analysis of the relationship between the Internet and new frontiers in society
and the economy. The European space best represents the fluidity of borders and frontiers
within this transformation. Thus the European Union is the best space to perform research on
the electronic frontiers. Borders are permeable or impermeable agents of inclusiveness or of
exclusion. The relations between the real space and the virtual space but also the influence
of the Internet on society lead us to two other important concepts for our research namely
digital divide and digital inclusion which define connections or barriers even within the
virtual space. This book attempts to answer questions such as: What types of borders have
information and communication technologies created in Europe? Which is the foundation of these
new frontiers? How does the network society function in Europe and which type of frontier
prevails? This title aims to fill the gap in the literature in the relationship between
frontiers and information and communication technologies.
