This contributed volume analyzes in depth how a border area is constantly reshaped as migration policies harden, and what kind of social, political and economic impacts are produced at local and international level. The study is focused on Ventimiglia, an Italian town located 6 km away from the French-Italian border on the gulf of Genoa with a long story of commerce, custom and smuggling activities related to its proximity to the frontier. While several projects have analyzed other symbolic places of the EU migration crisis such as Lampedusa, Calais and Lesvos, there is a severe empirical gap regarding Ventimiglia, a border town at the very geographic core of the Schengen area. This case study may provide emblematic insights into what European migratory movements are currently revealing in terms of the lack of shared responsibility between EU Member States, the EU common asylum system and respect for human rights, with increasing claims for national sovereignty by some Member States.

Focussing European borders: The book provides insight into a variety of changes in the nature of borders in Europe and its neighborhood from various disciplinary perspectives. Special attention is paid to the history and contemporary dynamics at Polish and German borders. Of particular interest are the creation of Euroregions, mutual perceptions of Poles and Germans at the border, EU Regional Policy, media debates on the extension of the Schengen area. Analysis of cross-border mobility between Abkhazia and Georgia or the impact of Israel's »Security Fence« to Palestine on society complement the focus on Europe with a wider view.

In recent years the borders of Europe have been perceived as being besieged by a staggering refugee and migration crisis. The contributors to The Borders of "Europe" see this crisis less as an incursion into Europe by external conflicts than as the result of migrants exercising their freedom of movement. Addressing the new technologies and technical forms European states use to curb, control, and constrain what contributors to the volume call the autonomy of migration, this book shows how the continent's amorphous borders present a premier site for the enactment and disputation of the very idea of Europe. They also outline how from Istanbul to London, Sweden to Mali, and Tunisia to Latvia, migrants are finding ways to subvert visa policies and asylum procedures while negotiating increasingly militarized and surveilled borders. Situating the migration crisis within a global frame and attending to migrant and refugee supporters as well as those who stoke nativist fears, this timely volume demonstrates how the enforcement of Europe’s borders is an important element of the worldwide regulation of human mobility. Contributors. Ruben Andersson, Nicholas De Genova, Dace Dzenovska, Evelina Gambino, Glenda Garelli, Charles Heller, Clara Lecadet, Souad Osseiran, Lorenzo Pezzani, Fiorenza Picozza, Stephan Scheel, Maurice Stierl, Laia Soto Bermant, Martina Tazzioli

This book is grounded in an extended analogy between the 19th century story of the Underground Railroad in North America, transporting fugitive slaves to safety in the North, and the 21st century routes and trails of migrant passages to and within Europe. It begins as a kind of historical travelogue tracing the remnants of the 19th-century Underground Railroad in the US and Canada, including its legacies and unfulfilled heritage. It then shifts to the political present by ethnographically sketching a series of different border instances and situations, both external and within the EU space (Ventimiglia, Athens, Paris, Calais, Ceuta and Melilla, Patras, Pozzallo). Focusing on the violent harshening of local border regimes, this book nonetheless suggests a different picture, one conceived as the dynamic effect of both migrants autonomy and of the solidarity provided by local and international groups. Focusing on these specific and contested situations, it is possible to reverse the image of a main borderland into one of a space crisscrossed by many routes and passages. Reading those experiences through the historical lens of the US antebellum Underground Railroad, the book suggests the idea of an analogous "Underground Europe".

When the 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to decades of conflict, which was mainly focused on the existence of the Irish border, most breathed a sigh of relief. Then came Brexit. Border Ireland: From Partition to Brexit introduces readers to the Irish border. It considers the process of bordering after the partition of Ireland, to the Good Friday Agreement and attendant debordering to the post-Brexit landscape. The UK's departure from the EU meant rebordering in some form. That departure also reinvigorated the push for a ‘united Ireland’ and borderlessness on the Island. As well as providing a nuanced assessment that will be of interest to followers of UK/Irish relations and European studies, this book’s analysis of processes of bordering/debordering/rebordering helps inform our understanding of borders more generally. Students and scholars of European studies, border studies, politics, and international relations, as well as anyone else with a general interest in the Irish border will find this book an insightful and historically-grounded aid to contemporary events.

Mobility, which has represented a critical scientific category and political driver, is currently under strong public scrutiny: has mobility lost its potential for social cohesion and political integration? Europe Beyond Mobility: Mobilities, Social Cohesion and Political Integration assesses this question by focusing on the European integration process, conceptualized as a political project for the promotion of different flows of mobility. Mobility has been a fundamental tool for territorial strength and political integration among European countries. Based on a realistic understanding of the potentials and limits of mobility, this book pleads for a "resonant mobility" in the interest of a renovated European integration process. It examines how, in opposition to those advocating for national borders and mobility restrictions, the EU needs to explore new regulatory models which limit mobility’s adverse social, economic, and environmental impacts and make accessible the benefits of alternative flow models. It also provides an analytical framework for the study of current trends of mobility limitation, migration restriction and re-bordering, and offers a complementary and innovative framework for the study of globalization. Europe Beyond Mobility will be of interest to academics and students as well as policy makers and practitioners internationally in the fields of mobility, migration and border studies.

A Companion to Border Studies A Companion to Border Studies “Taking into consideration all aspects this book has a very important role in the professional literature of border studies.” Cross-Border Review Yearbook of the European Institute “Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” Choice “This book, with its interdisciplinary team of authors from many world regions, shows the state of the art in this research field admirably.” Ulf Hannerz, Stockholm University “This volume will be the definitive work on borders and border-related processes for years into the future. The editors have done an outstanding job of identifying key themes, and of assembling influential scholars to address these themes. David Nugent, Emory University “This urgently needed Companion, edited by two leading figures of border studies, reflects past insights and showcases new directions: a must read for understanding territory, power and the state.” Dr. Nick Vaughan-Williams, University of Warwick “This impressive collection will have a broad appeal beyond specialist border studies. Anyone with an interest in the nation-state, nationalism, ethnicity, political geography or, indeed, the whole historical project of the modern world system will want to have access to a copy. The substantive scope is global and the intellectual reach deep and wide. Simply indispensable. ” Richard Jenkins, University of Sheffield Dramatic growth in the number of international borders has coincided in recent years with greater mobility than ever before – of goods, people and ideas. As a result, interest in borders as a focus of academic study has developed into a dynamic, multi-disciplinary field, embracing perspectives from anthropology, development studies, geography, history, political science and sociology. Authors provide a comprehensive examination of key characteristics of borders and frontiers, including cross-border cooperation, security and controls, migration and population displacements, hybridity, and transnationalism. A Companion to Border Studies brings together these disciplines and viewpoints, through the writing of an international collection of preeminent border scholars. Drawing on research from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, the contributors argue that the future of Border Studies lies within such diverse collaborations, which approach comparatively the features of borders worldwide.