1st Edition
Policing Mobility Regimes Frontex and the Production of the European Borderscape
More than 30 years after its birth, the Schengen area of free movement is under siege in Europe: new barriers are being erected along land borders, military assets are increasingly deployed to patrol the Mediterranean, while sophisticated surveillance tools are used to keep track of the flows of people crossing into European space.
Bringing together perspectives from political geography, critical criminology and legal theory, Policing Mobility Regimes offers a systematic analysis of the impact that Frontex is having on migration control strategies at the EU level and offers a detailed empirical description of the agency’s organization and operational activities. In addition, this book explores the meaning behind the attempt at developing a post-national border control strategy and what effect this might have on the geopolitics of Europe’s borders. It contributes to the wider theoretical debate on the relationships among migration, security and the transformation of borders in contemporary Europe.
An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to all those engaged with criminology, sociology, geography, politics and law as well as all those interested in learning about Europe’s changing borders.
Introduction
1. Migration, Security and Borders
2. The Geopolitics of EU Borders
3. EU Borders and Security
4. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex): An Outline
5. Policing EU Networked Borders
6. Policing the Euro-Mediterranean Frontier Zone
Biography
Giuseppe Campesi is professor of law and society at the Department of Political Sciences, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Italy. His research cut across different disciplines focusing mainly on contemporary social theory, critical legal studies, critical criminology, border controls and migration policies.
"In a truly transdisciplinary feat, Campesi has mobilized the disciplines of international relations, European law, and the social sciences, to project an impressive light on the processes of construction of a new European Leviathan through the lens of FRONTEX, the new ‘European Border Agency’, for the first time scrutinized in all its many, and often peculiar, dimensions."
Dario Melossi, Professor of Criminology, University of Bologna
"This book is a must-read for anyone interpelled to critically engage and gain a better understanding of the complex multilevel border regimes in the European Union. Through the lenses of an in-depth study of the EU Frontex Agency, the book compellingly shows how emerging 'EU policing mobility regimes' feature inherent controversies affecting their legitimation. These relate to their intrinsic antinomies with the safeguarding of individuals' human dignity and democratic rule of law principles which lay at the roots of the EU constitutional framework."
Sergio Carrera, Head of the Justice and Home Affairs Programme at CEPS
"Since its establishment in 2005 Frontex has deeply reframed the management of European borders, orchestrating the operations of national and private actors within an emerging ‘post-national’ pattern. Giuseppe Campesi provides a brilliant and compelling analysis of such shift, focusing both on the agency itself and on the ensuing implications for matters of space, security, social stratification and hierarchies. A must-read for anyone interested in border, security, migration, and EU studies."
Sandro Mezzadra, co-author of Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor
