A world without borders

The threat of terrorism raises many critical issues and the recent Paris terrorist act revealed the ease with which terrorists can cross international borders along with other migrants.

Finally, is it possible to control migration in a largely borderless world?

A major debate is currently raging throughout Europe and elsewhere has to how to control national borders and manage migration flows. The US-Mexico border illustrates how even the most sophisticated forms of border control can be avoided by desperate people.

There is no doubt that highly desperate people can escape current border controls by taking more risks, finding remote and isolated crossing points or by relying on people smugglers. In many cases the sheer weight of numbers alone overwhelms border security as was the case in June 2015 when more than 1,000 migrants stormed the razor-wire border fence in Melilla a Spanish enclave in Morocco in their attempt to get across the Mediterranean to Spain.  

Is “Fortress Australia” an answer where boats are turned back or arrivals sent to special transit camps for observation and processing?  Rural-urban migration also has potential security implications.

Most of those who move are young adults and many now argue that a disproportionate number of young, poor, unemployed and disconnected adults in urban areas can predispose a country to social unrest and violence.

Today all these questions dominate the migration scene and remain at the top of the agenda of national and international debate. There is little doubt that migration has become a major global issue with an enormous influence on politics, economics and social welfare not only in receiving countries but also in countries of origin.

So far many countries remain in a state of confusion as to how to address the flow of migrants. Many are torn between recognition of the need for unskilled and semi-skilled workers but divided on whether they want them to stay permanently and retain their cultural and ethnic distinctiveness.

There is little doubt that there is a need to assess the effect that cross-border flows can have on state security. Migration flows can have serious effects for weak or struggling states whereas more developed and secure states have shown the ability to adapt to the large scale movement of people despite the threat of violence and terrorism. While distance and isolation provide a certain degree of security, in many ways we live in a borderless world which requires us to find a new way of looking at cross-border flows and the role of immigrant groups.

Determining who to let in and who to keep out remains a key challenge for most states today. Migration in many parts of the world threatens to overwhelm a state’s capacity to maintain its sovereignty. Border control requires high levels of interstate cooperation and in some places due to isolation and remoteness is almost unmanageable.

Primarily a state has two basic responsibilities. In the first place it needs to maintain control over its borders and determine who can enter. In the second, it needs to decide of those permitted to enter who can stay and ultimately enjoy citizenship.

In some parts of the world such as Australia and New Zealand this may be easier to achieve. In a large part of the world, however, the porous nature of borders and the sheer volume of migrant flow severely challenge state sovereignty. In the case of Europe are we looking at the re-institution of formal border controls and the impact that this would have on tourist flows and the movement of goods and services.