Global Boundaries

World Boundaries Volume 1

Clive H. Schofield

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134880355
• Subtopic: Geography
• Index: Geography

Global Boundaries considers conceptual, legal and geopolitical aspects of international borders and borderlands. This book also presents a detailed discussion of Antarctica, an area of global territorial dispute.

1
THE DYNAMICS OF
BORDER INTERACTION

New approaches to border analysis

Oscar J. Martinez

INTRODUCTION

Recent tendencies in various parts of the world towards increased interdependence and integration among nations have greatly enhanced interaction among borderlands populations. Transboundary trade, tourism, migration, and attendant social and cultural relationships, have linked regions of adjoining countries ever closer to one another.

This chapter presents three new approaches to the study of borderlands interaction. First, such interaction is viewed in terms of four models that take into account environmental and human conditions that promote or inhibit cross-boundary ties. Second, a typology of borderlands society is offered as a means of determining the degree of transnationalism among different sectors of the population. Third, the concept of ‘borderlands milieu’ is developed to identify characteristics that make border people unique (Martínez 1994).

MODELS OF BORDERLANDS INTERACTION

Conditions in borderlands worldwide vary considerably because of profound differences in the size of nation-states, their political relationships, their levels of development, and their ethnic, cultural, and linguistic configurations. Despite this heterogeneity, however, it is possible to generalize about features common to all and to posit a classification scheme based on cross-border contact. As the world has evolvedgeopolitically, more and more borderlands have tended towards convergence rather than divergence, but unfavourable conditions in many areas still keep neighbouring borderlanders in a state of limited interaction. Thus in categorizing borderlands it is essential to assess cross-border movement and the forces that produce it. With such considerations in mind, four paradigms of borderlands interaction are proposed: alienated borderlands, co-existent borderlands, interdependent borderlands, and integrated Borderlands (Figures 1.1– 1.4).¹

Alienated borderlands

This model refers to borderlands where day-to-day, routine cross-boundary interchange is practically non-existent owing to extremely unfavourable conditions (Figure 1.1). Warfare, political disputes, intense nationalism, ideological animosity, religious enmity, cultural dissimilarity, and ethnic rivalry constitute major causes of such alienation. International strife leads to militarization and the establishment of rigid controls over cross-border traffic.

To say the least, such a tension-filled climate seriously interferes with the efforts of local populations to lead normal lives. International trade and substantive people-to-people contact are very difficult if not impossible. The ever-present possibility of large-scale violence keeps these unstable areas sparsely populated and underdeveloped. Borderlands which have gone through this stage in the past include the Scottish- British frontier in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the USA- Mexico border during most of the nineteenth century. Currently, alienated borderlands are found in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Co-existent borderlands

Co-existence arises between adjoining borderlands when their respective nation-states reduce extant international border-related conflicts to a manageable level or, in cases where unfavourable internal conditions in one or both countries preclude binational cooperation, when such problems are resolved to the degree that minimal border stability can prevail (Figure 1.2).

A scenario that reflects evolution from a state of alienation to one of co-existence is when a serious dispute is resolved by two nation-states to the extent that international relations are possible, but not to the point of allowing for significant cross-border interaction. In effect, economic and social development that normally would take place in the region under more favourable circumstances is put ‘on hold’. For example, after prolonged strife two nations may reach a general agreement

Figure 1.1 Alienated borderlands Tension prevails. Border is functionally closed, and cross-border interaction is totally or nearly totally absent. Residents of each country act as strangers to each other.

Figure 1.2 Co-existent borderlands Stability is an on and off proposition. Border remains slightly open, allowing for the development of limited binational interaction. Residents of each country deal with each other as casual acquaintances, but borderlanders develop closer relationships.

Figure 1.3 Interdependent borderlands Stability prevails most of the time. Economic and social complementarity prompt increased cross-border interaction, leading to expansion of borderlands. Borderlanders carry on friendly and cooperative relationships.

Figure 1.4 Integrated borderlands Stability is strong and permanent. Economies of both countries are functionally merged and there is unrestricted movement of people and goods across the boundary. Borderlanders perceive themselves as members of one social system.

regarding the location of their common border, but leave unresolved questions of ownership of valuable natural resources in strategic border locales.

Another explanation for a condition of borderlands co-existence is simply the need for traditionally antagonistic neighbours to have enough time to get over the acrimony produced by conflicts endured during the period of alienation. Fresh wounds, suspicion, and distrust can only be overcome with the passage of time. Eventually the elimination of overt conflict allows for enough accommodation to stabilize the border, permitting borderlanders to interact with their counterparts across the boundary within the formal parameters established by the two nation-states.

An example of a domestic issue that limits the ability of borderlanders to interact with foreigners is regional fragmentation. National unity demands a certain degree of integration among disparate territorial entities; in its absence central governments will not risk ‘drift’ at the periphery by allowing borderlanders to carry on substantive links with citizens of another country. In time, geographical sectionalism may be lessened through the spread of modern transportation, communication, and trade networks, diminishing the isolation of peripheries and giving the centre strong control over independent-minded frontiersmen. Once sufficient internal unity has been achieved, central governments will be less concerned with ‘leakages’ at the border or with contacts between frontiersmen and foreigners. Coexistence characterizes the Ecuador-Peru, Israel-Jordan, and USSR- China borderlands, to cite some examples.

Interdependent borderlands

A condition of borderlands interdependence exists when a border region in one nation is symbiotically linked with the border region of an adjoining country (Figure 1.3). Such interdependence is made possible by relatively stable international relations and by the existence of a favourable economic climate that permits borderlanders on both sides of the line to stimulate growth and development that are tied to foreign capital, markets, and labour. The greater the flow of economic and human resources across the border, the more the two economies will be structurally bonded to each other. The end result will be the creation of a mutually beneficial economic system.

Interdependence implies that two more or less equal partners willingly agree to contribute and extract from their relationship in approximately equal amounts. Of course this is an ideal state that may approach reality in some instances, but the prevalent pattern in binational regions throughout the world has been one of asymmetrical interdependence, where one nation is stronger than its neighbour and consequently plays the dominant role. In the case of two substantially unequal economies, the productive capacity of the wealthier countries is often matched with the raw materials and cheap labour in the poorer nation to create complementarity which, while asymmetrical in nature, none the less yields proportional benefits to each side.

Economic interdependence creates many opportunities for borderlanders to establish social relationships across the boundary as well, allowing for significant transculturation to take place. Thus the binational economic system produced by symbiosis spawns a binational social and cultural system.

The degree of interdependence in the borderlands is contingent upon policies pertaining to the national interests of the two neighbours. Concerns over immigration, trade competition, smuggling, and ethnic nationalism compel the central governments carefully to monitor the border, keeping it open only to the extent that it serves the agenda of the nation-state.

Conditions in the USA-Mexico borderlands constitute a good example of strong asymmetrical interdependence. Better balanced interdependence may be found in parts of Western Europe, where economic inequality among neighbouring nations is less of a problem than in the western hemisphere or other continents.

Integrated borderlands

At this stage neighbouring nations eliminate all major political differences between them and existing barriers to trade and human movement across their mutual boundary (Figure 1.4). Borderlanders merge economically, with capital, products, and labour flowing from one side to the other without serious restrictions. Nationalism gives way to a new internationalist ideology that emphasizes peaceful relations and improvements in the quality of life of people in both nations through trade and diffusion of technology. Each nation willingly relinquishes its sovereignty to a significant degree for the sake of achieving mutual progress.

Integration between two closely allied nations is most conducive when both are politically stable, militarily secure, and economically strong. Ideally the level of development is similar in both societies, and the resulting relationship is a relatively equal one. Population pressures are non-existent in either nation, and neither side feels threatened by heavy immigration across their open border.

Lack of data makes it difficult to cite examples of integrated borderlands, but if any region in the world reflects such conditions among select adjoining nations, it would surely be Western Europe.

BORDERLANDS SOCIETY

People in border regions are frequently closely associated with foreigners, particularly in cases of intense cross-boundary interaction. Powerful international forces tend to pull many borderlanders into the orbit of adjoining countries, with a resulting array of transnational relationships and lifestyles. On the other hand, some sectors of the population manage to remain shielded from transnational activities, and their lives are minimally affected by proximity to borders.

In accordance with these opposing patterns, borderlanders may be divided into two general types: (1) national borderlanders, and (2) transnational borderlanders (Figure 1.5).

National borderlanders are people who, while subject to foreign economic and cultural influences, have low-level or superficial contact with the opposite side of the border owing to their indifference to their next-door neighbours or their unwillingness or inability to function in any substantive way in another society. Transnational borderlanders, by contrast, are individuals who maintain significant ties with the neighbouring nation; ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• World Boundaries Series
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Series foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 THE DYNAMICS OF BORDER INTERACTION
• 2 NEW REFLECTIONS ON THE THEME OF INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES
• 3 BOUNDARIES AND THE CHANGING WORLD POLITICAL ORDER
• 4 THE PROBLEM OF ASIA AND THE WORLD VIEW OF ADMIRAL MAHAN
• 5 PEACEKEEPING AND PEACEBUILDING ALONG BORDERS
• 6 BORDERS AND BORDERLANDS AS LINCHPINS FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION IN AFRICA
• 7 ANTARCTICA
• 8 THE FUTURE OF THE ANTARCTIC TREATY – THIRTY YEARS ON
• 9 THE ANTARCTIC LEGAL SYSTEM
• Index