Redrawing the Line: Borders and Security in the Twenty-first Century

Overview

Is globalization moving us toward a border-free world? Are borders, as some international relations scholars maintain, becoming irrelevant? According to Peter Andreas of Brown University, "The importance of territoriality is persisting-but with a shift in emphasis." Andreas argues that "clandestine transnational actors" (CTAs) such as terrorists, drug traffickers, unauthorized migrants, and migrant smugglers are posing increasing challenges to traditional border policing and law enforcement. In exploring recent policy initiatives in the United States and the European Union to restrict territorial access to CTAs while assuring continued access to more "desirable" entries, Andreas finds that "growing anxiety over CTAs not only has transformed state border regulatory practices and cross-border relations, but has blurred traditional distinctions between external and internal security."