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Border Controls — Transforming Territorial Borders

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the transformation in the relevant bordering practices and the Commission contribution to this process in the area of border controls, showing the changing inclusion/exclusion dynamics on territorial and identity borders. It highlights as some of the key innovative features of the emerging post-modern bordering practices the hi-tech and selective nature of EU borders. Simultaneously, the chapter also pinpoints the persistence of traditional understandings of border controls, for example, the perceived need for compensatory measures. Also, it argues that in this field, member states have preserved their gate-keeping role, which restricts the scope for Commission action. Nevertheless, the discussion shows important recent instances of Commission entrepreneurial undertakings conducive to de-bordering.

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Kostadinova, V. (2017). Border Controls — Transforming Territorial Borders. In: The European Commission and the Transformation of EU Borders. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50490-6_2

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