B1253 - Rebound-Rethinking Borders in and by the European Union

Learning outcomes

The aim of this course is to explore the role of the European Union in the (re)definition of borders. Students are expected to get familiar with the performative function the (re)definition of borders has played for the EU’s own self-identification process and with the different forms of power the EU’s has exerted when engaging in hard and soft forms of bordering in different realms.

Course contents

The Course investigates how the border as an institution and a critical IR concept relates/challenges other key concepts such as sovereignty, territory, rights, and possibly identity.

The 'border' seems to have regained centrality both academically and in very practical ways. Major events force it at center stage. Brexit and the reintroduction of internal border controls in the EU since the refugee crisis remarked the centrality of geographical borders. More, recently, it has been shown that the border can be challenged by unilateral military actions, but also by economic and political moves. Contrary to the past, when we seemingly had crises and geopolitical challenges, there is something qualitatively different in the disposition to talk of borders as key signifiers to cope and as an ontological compass, also by the EU.

This Course will provide theoretical and conceptual insights on borders, their many natures and features to navigate the current complex scenario. The programme is quite dense and requires full dedication by enrolled Students. Students are expected to read the material in the Syllabus ahead of classes, following the Professor’s instructions. No specific schedule is provided as Classes may vary according to need.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings are available to Students on VIRTUALE or online. Missing material is also present at the Biblioteca R. Ruffilli.

Topics will foresee different in-class activities, to be specified in class.

BORDERS

Introduction

Course presentation. Talking of borders

Borders, territoriality and security

Simmons, B. A. (2019), Border Rules, International Studies Review, 21 (2), 256–283.

Andreas, P. (2003), Redrawing the Line: Borders and Security in the Twenty-first Century, International Security, 28 (2), 78–111.

Agnew, J. (2008), Borders on the mind: re-framing border thinking. Ethics & Global Politics, 1(4), 175–191.

Noel Parker & Nick Vaughan-Williams (2012), Critical Border Studies: Broadening and Deepening the ‘Lines in the Sand' Agenda, Geopolitics, 17, (4), 727-733.

Geopolitics and borders in the contemporary world

Dodds, K. (2007), Geopolitics: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ch: 1, 2.

Newman, D. (1998), Geopolitics Renaissant: Territory, sovereignty and the world political map, Geopolitics, 3 (1), 1-16.

Tuathail, G. Ó. (1996), Critical Geopolitics, London: Routledge. Chapter 1 “Geopolitics” 16-43 and Chapter 5 “Critical approaches to geopolitics”, 112-147.

Immerwahr, D. (2022), Are we really prisoners of geography?, The Guardian, 10 November.

The Liberal Order and Borders

Simmons BA, Goemans HE, (2021), Built on borders: Tensions with the institution liberalism (thought it) left behind. International Organization, 75(2), 387-410.

Fassi, E., Ceccorulli, M. and Lucarelli, S. (2023), An illiberal power? EU bordering practices and the liberal international order, International Affairs, 99 (6), 2261–2279.

BORDERS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

The shifting borders of the EU

Hooghe, L. and Marks, G. (2019), Grand theories of European integration in the twenty-first century, Journal of European Public Policy, 26 (8,) 1113-1133.

Börzel, T.A., Dimitrova, A. and Schimmelfennig, F. (2017), European Union enlargement and integration capacity: concepts, findings, and policy implications, Journal of European Public Policy, 24 (2), 157-176

Fear, Anxiety and the rethinking of security and borders

Mitzen, J. (2006), Ontological security in World Politics; state identity and the security dilemma, European Journal of International Relations, 12 (3), 341-370.

Della Sala, V. (2017), Homeland security: territorial myths and ontological security in the European Union, Journal of European Integration, 39(5), 545-558.

Haastrup, T., Guggan, N. and Mah L., (2021), Navigating ontological (in)security in EU-Africa relations, Global Affairs, 7 (4), 541-557.

Johansson-Nogués, E. (2018), The EU’s ontological (in) security: Stabilising the ENP area … and the EU-self?, Cooperation and Conflict, 53 (4), 528-544.

Akchurina, V. and Della Sala, V. (2018) Russia, Europe and the Ontological Security Dilemma: Narrating the Emerging Eurasian Space, Europe-Asia Studies, 70 (10), 1638-1655.

A geopolitical EU in the making?

Browning, C. S. (2018) Geostrategies, geopolitics and ontological security in the eastern neighbourhood: the European Union and the 'New Cold War', Political Geography, 62, 106-115.

Tocci, N. (2023), The rise and Fall of geopolitical Europe, Politico, available at: The rise and fall of geopolitical Europe – POLITICO [https://www.politico.eu/article/rise-and-fall-geopolitical-europe-ukraine-russia-israel-palestine-commission/]

Schengen: from the erasing to the return of borders

Zaiotti, R. (2007), Revisiting Schengen: Europe and the emergence of a new culture of border control", in Perspectives on European politics and society, Vol.8 (1), pp. 31-54.

Paoli, S. (2015), The Schengen Agreements and their Impact on Euro-Mediterranean Relations. The Case of Italy and the Maghreb, in Journal of European Integration History, 1, 125-145.

Ceccorulli, M., (2019) Back to Schengen: the collective securitisation of the EU free-border area, West European Politics, 42, (2), 302-322, available online

BORDERING DYNAMICS

Technology and borders control

Vavoula, N. (2021), Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Schengen Borders: Automated Processing, Algorithmic Profiling and Facial Recognition in the Era of Techno-Solutionism, European Journal of Migration and Law, 23(4), 457-484.

Aradau, C. et al. (2021), Data and new Technologies, the hidden face of mobility control’, Brief Migreurop 12, available online.

Students’ research and presentation of borders’ techniques

War, refugees and borders

• Class participation to the International Conference on the future of Afghanistan, 28 November

Hurrell, A. (2011), ‘Refugees, International Society, and Global Order’, in A. Betts and G. Loescher (eds), Refugees in International Relations, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Roberts, A. (2011), ‘Refugees and Military Intervention’, in A. Betts and G. Loescher (eds), Refugees in International Relations, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Diasporas and the construction of borders

Class with Professor Carlo Frappi – the Southern Caucasus

Adamson FB, Han E. Diasporic geopolitics, rising powers, and the future of international order. Review of International Studies. 2024;50(3), 476-493.

Teaching methods

Power points, In-class debates, team-work, presentations

Assessment methods

Participation 25% (class attendance, participation and active participation. More details in class)

Two in-class activities:

1. Comment of/questions about a class activity (25%)

2. Final written exam (50%)

Teaching tools

Videos, articles, seminars, Conferences attendance, external contributions

Office hours

See the website of Michela Ceccorulli