European boundaries in question?

Abstract

This introduction provides a descriptive typology and normative analysis of the ways boundaries are being questioned in Europe. We distinguish between boundary-making (defining or redefining the territorial borders of a polity), boundary-crossing (determining the rules of access to territorial borders) and boundary-unbundling (allowing boundary-making and boundary-crossing to vary between policies and polities), noting each of these categories possesses internal and external dimensions. Cosmopolitans and statists offer contrasting normative evaluations of these processes, favouring weakening and maintaining or strengthening state boundaries respectively. We endorse a demoicratic approach lying between these two as better reflecting how individuals relate to each other and to the EU, a view shared by some but not all contributors to this volume. We conclude by situating the contributions within our topological framework, highlighting how they illustrate the contemporary questioning of European boundaries.

Keywords:

• Boundaries
• borders
• free movement
• differentiated integration
• demoicracy
• Brexit

Acknowledgments

Initial drafts of the papers in this volume were presented and debated at the European Boundaries in Nationalist Times workshop at the European Studies Centre, University of Oxford, October 2016. This introduction was very much shaped by the valuable discussions at this workshop. We thank the participants and two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped us improve the paper markedly.

Notes

1. Our typology is influenced by, but differs from, other boundary typologies found in the migration literature (e.g. Bauböck 1998; Zolberg and Woon 1999). These authors are primarily concerned with how internal boundaries of membership and identity change within a receiving society due to ‘patterns of negotiation between newcomers and hosts’ (Zolberg and Woon 1999, 9). By contrast, our account does not privilege the perspective of boundary-crossing over other types of boundary, while our distinction between external and internal boundaries allows us to include boundary negotiation involving multiple states, rather than being simply limited to negotiations within a particular state.

2. The latest in a series of CJEU judgments on this issue rules that member states may exclude Union citizens who go to that state to find work from certain non-contributory social security benefits. Judgment in Case C-67/14 Jobcenter Berlin Neukölln v Nazifa, Sonita, Valentina and Valentino Alimanovic, 15 September.