Geopolitics of Borders and Migration

Midterm

transit migrant

•  ambiguous category; person passing through on the way elsewhere; often used to justify policing in “buffer” states.

Buffer zones

• neighbouring countries deputised to intercept/manage mobility before it reaches the EU.

Borders have multiplied and stratified.

• Diener & Hagen map a world more densely bordered; Spijkerboer shows that bordering now occurs through a global mobility infrastructure that advantages some travellers and blocks others

Myth of a borderless world

• Borders shift from walls to networked systems (visas, watchlists, ETIAS/ESTA, carrier sanctions). 

Privilege of mobility

• Some glide through airports; others face deserts/seas selection by nationality, class, race, gender.

Externalisation (your précis)

Schengen pushes control outward through readmission, liaison officers, and bilateral deals; Spain/Italy/France pioneered practice in North/West Africa.

Co-bordering

• the joint management of overlapping jurisdictions

Dual aspect of sovereignty

• implies that power cannot be challenged and must also be recognized by other states

Sources of state legitimacy

• welfare and protection

Sovereignty

• the exercise of supreme authority and control over a distinct territory

Smuggling and Trafficking

• trafficking involves exploitation and victims are legally protected, while smuggled migrants are criminalized because their movement was consensual (though profit-driven for smugglers)

  • Framing migration as “trafficking” or “smuggling” seems to be a paternalistic way of protecting migrants, but is truly patriarchal 

  • Emphasis on trafficking feminizes the issue, depicting migrants as passive victims needing rescue from predatory others

  • Smuggling is a reaction to restrictive policies + limited resources; not cause of migration

  • Europe’s anti-smuggling efforts cause a dangerous cycle: intensified policies against smugglers → smuggling under more dangerous conditions + more migrant deaths → more calls for action against smuggling