Borders

Borders define the geographic boundaries of political entities or areas of different legal jurisdiction, for instance, between states in USA. These borders may be natural such as the Niagara River which separates the USA from Canada. Another example of a natural boarder is oceans as there are very few nations that span more than one continent. These borders may also be manmade, such as the border that separates India and Pakistan, which is so large that it can be seen from space.

Originally, borders served to separate nations and act as a defence from offensive threats of neighbouring regimes or to separate countries with political differences, however, more recently, as the world has developed there has been a global shift towards the relaxation of borders. This is because of the developments in technology that make invading other countries a non-existent feature of modern day world. Despite this, physical natural and manmade borders (as well as non-physical borders) still exist as to prevent the free movement of the population to avoid over-crowding in certain countries. They also serve to reduce trade between countries, most notably in illegal goods and services such as drugs and human trafficking. The best example of this is the Mexico-United States border that runs nearly 2,000 miles along the Rio Grande, It is thought that over 520,000 Mexicans try to cross the border in an attempt to lead a better lifestyle in the USA, of the 520,000, 40% will slip through US border control and gain illegal access to America. It is thought by Dr Douglas Massey of Princeton University that the efforts of the US to increase security along the border has led to migration flows in the most desolate and most desert places along the border and thus increasing the mortality rate of those who try to enter the US illegally. As a result of the danger posed by crossing the border, those who gain access to the US are highly likely to attempt to stay in the US and are increasingly likely to pay criminals in an attempt to have the criminals bring their families across the border to the better lifestyle the US offers. Such danger posed by the border has created a large informal economy for criminals in drug, weapon and human trafficking which has further required security resources to be deployed to this problem and therefore has cost the US more money. In the Europe, however, the borders are mostly more relaxed due to the formation of the EU that allows the free movement of people, goods, services and capital from one EU member country to another, in total, there are 27 EU member countries.

The India-Pakistan border. Image courtesy of BBC

References:

Kelly, Patricia, and Douglas Massey. "Borders for Whom? The Role of NAFTA in Mexico-U.S. Migration". The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political Science 610 (2007): 98–118.