Trafficking borders

This article offers an empirically informed conceptualisation of trafficking borders as spaces of restriction and negotiation, contingently produced, encountered, and escaped along the mobility routes of the targets of trafficking discourse. The concept of trafficking borders advances critical literature that considers anti-trafficking measures a vehicle of state-authorised bordering practices by demonstrating social and political spaces where the trafficking discourse coalesces several discourses, institutions, and practices as borders. The article draws on participatory action research conducted in Nepal to demonstrate the presence of borders in spaces such as households, communities, government offices, Indo-Nepal state borders, emigration detention and deportation centres, and airports. These spaces contribute to the critical understanding of locations where anti-trafficking measures curtail the rights, mobility, and choices of prospective migrant workers. Prioritising research participants’ experiences of encounters with trafficking borders, the article underscores that borders are the central experience of migrant workers which they must escape to actualise their labour migration projects. The conceptualisation further attempts to position the emigration regime as an important site of theorisation and activism and demands a thorough consideration of the diverse struggles of the labour migrants before they arrive at their labour relations in the immigration regime.     

Bordering dynamics and the geopolitics of cross-border tourism between China and Myanmar

The impacts of border politics on tourist mobilities become even more explicit in unstable and geopolitically sensitive borders. The balance between security and economy in the course of tourism development can be easily disrupted at these unstable borders, as shown in the case between China and Myanmar. This article explores the enabling and disabling of cross-border tourist mobilities— legal day trips for sightseeing and illegal border-crossers for gambling—to reveal how these two tourist mobilities are driven by differences (exotic culture vs. sinful gambling) and regulated by Chinese law enforcements (protective control vs. stringent deterrence). We find that borders can both invoke a special type of fascination among tourists and become a territorial barrier to limit tourist mobilities into foreign countries. The article presents two arguments. First, the operation of bordering dynamics discursively produces the geopolitical difference between two sides of the border, a difference allowing state agencies to promote and order cross-border tourism. Second, no matter how much it can contribute to the local economy, the cross-border tourism industry is subordinated to security concerns caused by illicit activities and political instability, particularly when national governments can effectively exercise power in their border regions. Together, the interlinked pattern of debordering for tourist money and rebordering for national security generates an explicit spatial expression of bordering dynamics.     

Borders Moderating Distance: A Social Network Analysis of Spatial Effects on Policy Interaction

The present paper examines the importance of integrating geographical effects into the analysis of social networks. Specifically, we study the impacts of spatial distance and territorial borders on information exchange within two European cross-border regions where there is evidence of extensive cross-border political interaction in the domain of public transportation. We use exponential random graph models to review how these spatial factors influence policy interaction. We show how the effect of distance on the exchange of information between organizations is less obvious than it seems at first sight, when we control for endogenous networks effects with which it tends to be confounded. We also explore moderating effects among the spatial factors studied and in particular how the effect of distance affects information exchange by territoriality. While the probability of interaction decreases with distance in the context of domestic ties, distance does not exert the same friction when it comes to cross-border ties. These findings suggest that borders are not necessarily a barrier to interaction and that peripheral actors located in border regions may bridge distance in order to access strategic information they do not have access to within their territorial jurisdiction and is likely concentrated in foreign decision centers.     

归侨侨眷的跨国网络与中越跨境经济合作——以广西东兴为例

论文以广西东兴市归侨侨眷参与中越跨境经济合作为例,探讨了民间力量在推动跨国区域合作中的作用。论文认为,民间力量也是跨国区域合作的重要推动力量之一。归侨侨眷作为民间力量具有独特的优势,是政府力量的有效补充。在归侨侨眷形成的跨国关系网络中,蕴含的信任等无形资源以及嵌入在网络中的信息、资金、客户等有形资源是归侨侨眷得以在跨境经济合作中发挥作用的重要原因。这种跨国网络中的资源降低了市场交易成本,促进了生产要素的跨国流动,从而有利于推动跨境经济合作的快速发展。     

Spatial Governance across Borders Revisited: Organizational Forms and Spatial Planning in Metropolitan Cross-border Regions

In Europe, cross-border cooperation in spatial planning has intensified in recent years. Organizations with varying institutional characteristics have emerged in urban areas that cross a national border. They deal with problems stemming from the cross-border situation. The institutional and spatial aspects of organizations on the sub-national level in nine European cross-border metropolitan regions are compared in this article. The analytical concept of metropolitan governance applied here takes into account the simultaneous existence of different cross-border organizations as well as their spatial and functional relationships. Subsequently, this article assesses the impact of governance on spatial planning in two cases, Basel and Lille, where institutional changes occurred on the sub-national level between 2000 and 2010. The way organizational and spatial attributes of new forms of cross-border metropolitan governance influence the coordination of spatial policies is discussed here. The comparison of organizational characteristics and capacity to coordinate reveals important differences. Furthermore, comparing spatial scales shows how new cross-border perimeters are drawn along existing national territories. Organizations' competences and interests are decisive for the coordination and implementation of spatial policies.     

Cross-Border Differences and Unfamiliarity: Shopping Mobility in the Dutch-German Rhine-Waal Euroregion

Many international differences can be experienced in shopping spaces on both sides of a national border. Other languages, unfamiliar goods and unknown spatial codes are only a few of the physical-functional and socio-cultural differences that could cause exciting and stimulating situations but could also be perceived as problematic and deterring. This paper analyses perceptions, motivations and practices of cross-border (non-)shoppers and provides insights into ways in which people from cross-border regions deal with differences and the extent to which they interact across borders. The aim is to both theoretically and empirically substantiate the dynamic concept of (un)familiarity by scrutinizing the impact of “push”, “pull”, “keep” and “repel” factors on shopping (im)mobility in the Dutch-German Rhine-Waal Euroregion. These factors are seen as rooted in dynamic processes of constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing differences between places on both sides of the border. In so doing, attention is paid to changing shopping practices and motivations and influencing changing perceptions of international differences. As such, the paper also discusses “familiarization processes” in cross-border regions. The concluding section provides critical reflections on the current European policy approach towards cross-border regional development. In fact, the paper ends with a plea for more instead of less borders, as borders are markers of international differences which could promote cross-border mobility.     

Cross-Border Mobility,Unfamiliarity and Development Policy in Europe

In this special issue, we seek to explore experiences, performances and effects of both “unfamiliarity” and “familiarity” across a diversity of inner and outer borders of the European Union. In EU integration discourse, cross-border unfamiliarity is usually considered to obstruct international mobility and diminish opportunities for cross-border cohesion and communities to develop. European development policy, therefore, often focuses on creating mutual understanding in border regions, especially through diminishing the barrier effect of borders. One of the consequences is that more cross-border familiarity is created. However, too much familiarity may also have undermining implications for cross-border mobility, integration and community-building. This special issue, therefore, scrutinizes what “being” and “feeling” (un)familiar imply in cross-border contexts and what consequences both have for spatial practices in and representations of borderlanders in several Euroregions—as well as for European regional development policies aiming for cross-border mobility, integration and community-building.     

Recovering the Paradox of the Border: Identity and (Un)familiarity Across the Portuguese–Spanish Border

European internal borders have been involved in a process of reconfiguration. Political discourses have emphatically commented upon the dismantling of borders, the Single Market and free movement of products and people. This paper addresses these changes in relation to a specific European internal border—the Portuguese–Spanish border. To reflect on the changes referred to above, three different axes are explored: the relationship between borders and mobility, between borders and identity and between borders and memory. It is by stressing these relationships that concepts of familiarity and unfamiliarity will be equated and discussed. Drawing on my fieldwork experience and on documented studies on different sections of the border, I will explore how territorial and social dissimilarities affect the relationship with the border and in what ways (un)familiarity acts as a motivation for border crossing. I will argue that although there is a feeling of familiarity (constructed by past experience) and that despite the fact that Iberian states are imposing a new paradigm of relations across the border (that of cross-border cooperation) people living on the border are using concepts of differentiation to sustain their identity in a discursive manner.     

Public participation geographic information systems across borders

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology is increasingly being used by nongovernmental organizations, grassroots organizations and other activist groups involved in transforming social, economic and environmental policy in multiple countries. The use of GIS represents a response to the fact that environmental problems are multidimensional and refuse to acknowledge political borders. It also represents a growing awareness that, for activism to compete in an era of globalization, it must utilize tools that scale from a local to a multinational level .
A research field called public participation GIS (PPGIS) has emerged to investigate the use and value of GIS by marginalized peoples and communities engaged in social change. It has yet to formally examine cross‐border and multinational applications. This paper makes a substantial contribution to moving the PPGIS research agenda forward to pace existing nonprofit activities. The paper considers the critical aspects of PPGIS being used across borders and in scaling up nonprofit organizations. The paper briefly reviews the PPGIS literature on issues of resources and data access and the role of GIS expertise. It then analyzes the use of PPGIS across borders as a function of building organizational capacity. Theory is reinforced with examples of nonprofits currently using GIS in multiple countries. A transnational PPGIS is framed, which can serve as a base for further investigation and discussion .     

Vulnerable geographies: human trafficking,immigration and border control in the UK and beyond

Human trafficking inspires strong responses from feminists and other interested parties. This article takes the UK anti-trafficking measures as a case study to explore the interaction between discourses of trafficked women's vulnerability to sexual harm, and national vulnerability to external threats such as organized crime. Drawing on feminist engagements with human trafficking and commercial sex, my aim is to contribute to these debates. I explore how the government's moralistic response to trafficking reflects a particular form of regulation that animates new systems of governmentality and biopower. Against this backdrop I attempt to advance feminist perspectives on trafficking by demonstrating the relationality between UK anti-trafficking measures, and its plans to reorganize its regulatory capacity overseas. I suggest an interpretation of UK overseas anti-trafficking measures that foregrounds respatialized border and immigration controls. I show how this kind of regulation works on and through the bodies and behaviours of government actors. I conclude that while aspects of these overseas interventions do go some way to protect trafficked women, they do not operate in isolation of other geopolitical agendas.     

"We have a little bit more finesse, as a nation": Constructing the Polish Worker in London's Building Sites

Abstract:  This paper examines how male Polish builders in London construct themselves relationally to English builders as they negotiate their place within the labour hierarchies of the building site and in the London labour market. This is based on semi-structured interviews and participant photographs taken by Polish migrants arriving in the aftermath of the European Union expansion in May 2004, and now working in building sites across London. These buildings sites are mundane elements of a global city which employ transnational labour, and where differences between Polish and English builders become significant discursive tools of survival in a competitive labour market. The paper illustrates how Polish workers mark themselves as "superior" to English builders through the versatility of their embodied skills, work ethic, artistic qualities, and finesse in their social interactions on the building site. This paper thus provides new ways of understanding the meanings of work and the complexity of identity politics within the spaces of low-paid manual work in a global city.     

Geographies at the margins: borders in South Asia–an introduction

This introduction to a special section exploring "Geographies at the Margins" of South Asia offers a discussion that links the literature on borders and margins to the regional complexities and geographies of South Asia. Specifically, we argue for linking of these literatures to develop an optic for thinking about external and internal borders that is at once relational and comparative. South Asia, as has often been observed, is a region marked with multiple borders and margins. It is also a space where the articulation between such spaces is at once suggestive and crucial for understanding the political geography of South Asia and the ways that borders and margins are similarly implicated in working out the postcolonial politics of nation, state, and space.     

International rivers as border infrastructures: En/forcing borders in South Asia

Rivers have long been convenient yet troublesome borders. Inherently itinerant, rivers routinely defy cartographic depictions of borders as static, territorially bounded formations. Such dynamism poses material and conceptual challenges to state regulatory activities, resulting in increasingly heterodox attempts to fix waterbodies through various securitizing mechanisms. I examine the dialectical relationship between rivers and borders through the concept of the river-border complex. I ask how the Ganges River shapes the form and function of the Indo-Bangladeshi border and how, in turn, bordering practices in India regulate flows along the river, which comprises 129 km of India's border with Bangladesh. Drawing on archival records, in-person interviews, and river data, I find that the border and efforts to secure it mediate many flows along the river. The study corroborates previous work within critical border studies that securitizing cross-border flows has the perverse effect of generating greater insecurity in adjoining countries. Crucially, historical analysis of sediment, information, and human flows reveals how international rivers also determine patterns and processes of circulation and thereby warrant reconceptualization as border infrastructures, rather than as merely being subject to them.     

Tourism–conservation enterprises as a land-use strategy in Kenya

Since the early 1990s, nature conservation organizations in Eastern and Southern Africa have increasingly attempted to integrate their objectives with those of international development organizations, the land-use objectives of local communities and the commercial objectives of tourism businesses, in order to find new solutions for the protection of nature and wildlife outside state-protected areas. The increased inclusion of the market in conservation initiatives has led to diverse institutional arrangements involving various societal actors, such as private game reserves, conservancies and conservation enterprises. The Koija Starbeds ecolodge in Kenya – a partnership between communities, private investors and a non-governmental organization – serves as a case study for emerging institutional arrangements aimed at enabling value creation for communities from nature conservation. Based on a content analysis of data from individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews, as well as a document and literature review, this article reveals a range of benefits for community livelihood and conservation. It also identifies a range of longer term governance challenges, such as the need to address local political struggles, the relations between partners and transparency and accountability in the arrangement.     

Selective border permeability: Governing complex environmental issues through and beyond COVID-19

COVID-19 has changed the permeability of borders in transboundary environmental governance regimes. While borders have always been selectively permeable, the pandemic has reconfigured the nature of cross-border flows of people, natural resources, finances and technologies. This has altered the availability of spaces for enacting sustainability initiatives within and between countries. In Southeast Asia, national governments and businesses seeking to expedite economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession have selectively re-opened borders by accelerating production and revitalizing agro-export growth. Widening regional inequities have also contributed to increased cross-border flows of illicit commodities, such as trafficked wildlife. At the same time, border restrictions under the exigencies of controlling the pandemic have led to a rolling back and scaling down of transboundary environmental agreements, regulations and programs, with important implications for environmental democracy, socio-ecological justice and sustainability. Drawing on evidence from Southeast Asia, the article assesses the policy challenges and opportunities posed by the shifting permeability of borders for organising and operationalising environmental activities at different scales of transboundary governance.     

中国社会组织发展的时空演化与影响因素

运用泰尔指数、标准差椭圆及面板数据回归等方法，研究2004-2017年中国31个省社会组织总数以及社会团体、基金会、民办非企业三类社会组织的时空演化特征，探讨主要影响因素。结果显示：①中国社会组织总数及三种类型社会组织均呈快速增长态势，但增长率表现为"下降-上升-下降-上升"的回旋式变化。②社会组织的发展呈现"东多西少"的空间格局，区域内部差异大且变化幅度大，东部地区内部省际差异最大。③社会组织总数及三种类型的标准差椭圆均呈现东北-西南的分布格局，其中社会组织总数和社会团体的标准差椭圆具有南移倾向。④经济、市场化水平、对外开放程度与社会组织的发展具有显著的正相关关系，且其发展还受相关政策及自然灾害频发等因素的影响。     

Optimizing Productivity Through Privatization and Entrepreneurial Management

Efficiency and economy have become the forces driving both, public and private organizations in the 1990s. Competition and legal mandates constrict managers' abilities to use their traditional options in delivering goods and services to their citizens and customers. Privatization and entrepreneurial management are being utilized increasingly to improve productivity. This is creating a genuine transformation in the way we manage our organizations, it also changes the nature of the relationship between our organizations and their citizens, clients, and customers.
In this article we explore this unfolding transformation and analyze its significance. An entrepreneurial management productivity optimization model is also developed. Productivity is explored in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. The mechanisms for improving productivity, privatization, and entrepreneurial management are then examined. After noting the changing rotes that public policy and competition now play, the more prominent managerial models are explored, including reinventing and reengineering.
The article then presents examples of federal, state, and local entrepreneurial strategies and innovations. It concludes by alerting us to endangered public policy priorities and sets forth significant public management caveats to which we increasingly should become sensitive. The entrepreneurial management productivity optimization model has been developed to assist in clarifying and analyzing the issues involved in this article. It should also help those working in this arena to formulate optimal choices when building entrepreneurial management models for their own organizations or for those of their citizens, clients, or customers.     

Labour mobility in the Euroregion Galicia–Norte de Portugal: constraints faced by cross-border commuters

ABSTRACT

Removing barriers to labour mobility is expected to contribute to processes of spatial integration in cross-border regions, by an efficient allocation of labour and consequently a convergence between territories separated by a common border. Nevertheless, despite the de-bordering process within the European Union, administrative, legal and language barriers still hamper cross-border labour mobility, preventing the process of labour market integration. The aim of this paper is to identify obstacles to the mobility of cross-border workers commuting within the Euroregion Galicia–Norte de Portugal. The methodology employed combines the analysis of official data on labour mobility with qualitative data gathered from interviews with cross-border commuters, aimed at finding explanations for the different attitudes towards cross-border mobility inside this Euroregion. While traditional push and pull factors remain relevant in explaining cross-border labour flows, the qualitative information offers new insights into different levels of indifference from cross-border workers. The result is a fragmented labour market where Norte de Portugal is providing low-qualified, low-wage labour, whereas Galicia is contributing with well-paid, qualified labour.     

“Who is not an agent here?”: The Collateral Damage of Anti-Trafficking in Nepal

In this paper, I explore how the diverse labour migration practices of people who challenge their state’s restrictive policies produce a form of stigma that extends from people to the places where they reside. Drawing on the findings of Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted in Nepal, I demonstrate how people residing in one such place attempt to undo stigma by adopting diverse practices amidst restrictive anti-trafficking and migration policies. I reveal a novel practice of prospective labour migrants negotiating and receiving money from their choicest mobility facilitators to assist their unauthorised labour migration. This exchange of money potentially criminalises prospective labour migrants, their family members, unlicensed and licensed recruitment agents, community leaders, anti-traffickers, government officials, hotel owners, transport service providers, and airport immigration officials as traffickers. Underscoring the collateral damage of anti-trafficking in Nepal, I assert that the exchange of money to facilitate unauthorised migration expands the remit of criminalisation of citizens as “traffickers”.