Why do borders and the accountability of border control systems matter so much in the globalised world? Why has border management largely escaped the evolving security sector reform (SSR) agenda? This book for the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Switzerland, assesses recent developments in the governance of border security systems comparatively in North America and Europe.
Security sector reform (SSR) is based on the premise that state institutions and agencies providing security should be both efficient and effective and also overseen in a way that reflects the values of liberal democracy. However, judging the efficiency and effectiveness of border management is problematic in the globalised economy. Increasing economic disparity between developing and first world countries, illegal immigration, trans-national crime, and terrorism seriously undermine the capacity of both weak and strong states to control their borders. At the same time these factors provide a political imperative to maintain the image of the state as able to exercise border control.
In response, border control policies of North American and European countries over the past decade, and especially since 9/11, have emphasised technical approaches and a security rather than governance agenda. Democratic oversight structures have not kept pace in either North America or Europe with policy developments and regional and international cooperation between agencies. Some specific trends in the regional securitisation of border control are:
- There has been scant attention in public discourse given to the human rights of migrants, privacy issues, or the need to balance perceived security considerations with democratic values.
- Both the European Union (EU) and the USA have imposed border management policies on their neighbours. The EU has used accession criteria to push aspiring candidate states to bear disproportionate burdens in managing its new external borders.
- Private sector companies such as airlines are becoming more involved in surveillance and migration control functions and thereby in security governance.
- A fundamental difference between regional economic integration in North America and Europe is the latter’s focus on free movement of people as well as goods, capital, and services.
Despite globalisation and economic liberalisation, borders have acquired a new importance since 9/11. The real effectiveness of border policing in stopping (as opposed to re-routing) inflows of undesired people and articles is hard to gauge, but it has a symbolic importance in underscoring the authority and legitimacy of state power. However, democratic governance of border management has been neglected in both practice and theory. Border management has been securitised but is not overseen in a way that reflects the values of liberal democracy. It has effectively escaped the modern SSR agenda. Some policy relevant issues highlighted include:
- Political discourse about removing barriers to trade has been linked in Europe and North America to reassuring domestic populations of the state’s ability to enforce migration control.
- Shifting responsibilities for migration control to private companies represents a move towards privatisation of risk, and makes migration control less a policy and more a technical issue.
- A securitised border management agenda ignores the demand side of border security problems like illegal migration and drug abuse. With respect to migration, there is strong disincentive for source states to collaborate because remittances are a main source of hard currency.