Cyprus, the Forgotten Frontier: the Different Borders of the Island and their Respective Regimes.

This thesis investigates the evolving and multifaceted nature of borders through the case study of Cyprus, a uniquely fragmented island shaped by colonial legacies, unresolved conflict, and intensified migration control. As a site marked by overlapping sovereignties and jurisdictions, Cyprus offers a unique context to explore how borders function beyond territorial lines, parallel to their physical and material reality they inevitably cause immaterial repercussions. Drawing on field experience with the Cyprus Refugee Council and theoretical insights from critical border studies literature, the research argues that borders are dynamic tools of control, exclusion, and racialized differentiation, regulating access to mobility and rights, and operating both at and within state boundaries. Contemporary border regimes in Cyprus perpetuate precarity, deflect responsibility, and normalize violence against people on the move. Through a combination of historical, legal, and ethnographic analysis, this thesis frames Cyprus as a microcosm of global border regimes, where the border is not only drawn but lived, contested, and reimagined.