Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Vitality of Borders: Migration Through and Bordering Practices in Switzerland

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Switzerland and Migration

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Migration History ((PSMH))

Abstract

Taking the borderscape of Chiasso, Switzerland, as a case study, this chapter investigates concrete bordering practices of the Swiss Grenzwachtkorps (Swiss Border Guard—SBG) in the context of travellers trying to enter Switzerland. It takes a close look at the specific bordering practices, points to inherent problems and asks about their particular meanings after the long summer of migration in 2015. The empirical findings are theorised in a critical Border Studies’ perspective concerning the multidimensionality of borders and contextualised in the Swiss Border Guard’s changing relationship to EUropean border regimes. The chapter argues for a global perspective on analysing exclusion and filtering practices that nonetheless play out in local, concrete interactions between border guards and travellers. Theorisations of migration to, through and from Switzerland need to be contextualised on much broader scales than merely focussing on the Swiss nation-state; rather, they need to be embedded in a European and global context of migration and mobility in order to understand more accurately what constitutes (Swiss) borders, where they are actually located and what they mean for the different people involved.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Abizadeh, Arash. “Democratic Theory and Border Coercion: No Right to Unilaterally Control Your Own Borders.” Political Theory 36, no. 1 (February 2008): 37–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agnew, John. “The Territorial Trap: The Geographical Assumptions of International Relations Theory.” Review of International Political Economy 1, no. 1 (1994): 53–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, Ruben. “Europe’s Failed ‘Fight’ Against Irregular Migration: Ethnographic Notes on a Counterproductive Industry.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42, no. 7 (2014): 1055–1075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ataç, Ilker, Kim Rygiel, and Maurice Stierl. “Introduction: The Contentious Politics of Refugee and Migrant Protest and Solidarity Movements: Remaking Citizenship from the Margins.” Citizenship Studies 20, no. 5 (2016): 527–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauder, Harald. “Toward a Critical Geography of the Border: Engaging the Dialectic of Practice and Meaning.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101, no. 5 (2011): 1126–1139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauder, Harald. Migration Borders Freedom. London and New York: Routledge, 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blake, Michael. “Exclusion, Discretion, and Justice.” In The Ethics and Politics of Immigration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends, edited by Alex Sager, 29–43. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, Christina. “Migration Control and Narratives of Steering.” The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 13, no. 1 (2011): 12–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brambilla, Chiara. “Exploring the Critical Potential of the Borderscapes Concept.” Geopolitics 20, no. 1 (2015a): 14–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brambilla, Chiara. “Navigating the Euro/African Border and Migration Nexus through the Borderscapes Lens: Insights from the LampedusaInFestival.” In Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, edited by Chiara Bramilla, Jussi Laine, James Scott, and Gianluca Bocchi, 111–121. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2015b.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breljak, Anja. “Subjektivierungsgefüge Grenzkontrolle: Warten, sich ausweisen, weitergehen.” movements—Journal für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung 3, no. 1 (2017): 205–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cresswell, Tim. On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuttitta, Paolo. “Humanitarianism and Migration in the Mediterranean Borderscape: The Italian-North African Border between Sea Patrols and Integration Measures.” In Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, edited by Chiara Bramilla et al., 131–139. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Genova, Nicholas. “The ‘Crisis’ of the European Border Regime: Towards a Marxist Theory of Borders.” International Socialism, no. 150 (2016): 33–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demirović, Alex, and Andrea Maihofer. “Vielfachkrise und die Krise der Geschlechterverhältnisse.” In Krise, Kritik, Allianzen: Arbeits- und geschlechtersoziologische Perspektiven, edited by Andreas Heilmann and Hildegard Maria Nickel, 30–48. Weinheim and Basel: Beltz Juventa, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dück, Julia. “Krise und Geschlecht: Überlegungen zu einem feministisch-materialistischen Krisenverständnis.” Prokla: Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft 44, no. 1 (2014): 53–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dummett, Michael. On Immigration and Refugees. Abingdon: Routledge, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fassin, Didier. Enforcing Order: An Ethnography of Urban Policing. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, Nancy, and Axel Honneth. Umverteilung oder Anerkennung? Eine politisch-philosophische Kontroverse. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guild, Elsbeth, and Didier Bigo. “The Transformation of European Border Controls.” In Extraterritorial Immigration Control: Legal Challenges, edited by Bernard Ryan and Valsamis Mitsilegas, 257–280. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Häberlein, Jana. Flucht-Bewegungen: Politischer Aktivismus und Partizipation geflüchteter Frauen in Britannien aus biografischer Perspektive. Bielefeld: Transcript, forthcoming.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heller, Charles, Lorenzo Pezzani, and Maurice Stierl. “Disobedient Sensing and Border Struggles at the Maritime Frontier of EUrope.” Spheres—Journal for Digital Cultures, no. 4 (June 2017). http://spheres-journal.org/disobedient-sensing-and-border-struggles-at-the-maritime-frontier-of-europe/.

  • Houtum, Henk van, and Ton van Naerseen. “Bordering, Ordering, an Othering.” Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 93, no. 2 (2002): 125–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Reece. “Spaces of Refusal: Thinking Sovereign Power and Resistance at the Border.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102 (2012): 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller, Ska, Jean Lambert, Judith Sargentini, et al. Grüne Alternative zum Dublin System: Ein solidarisches Verteilungssystem, mit Anknüpfungspunkten für Asylsuchende (October 2016). http://www.skakeller.de/fileadmin/material/Migration/pdf/2016-11-08_Dublinpapier_%C3%BCberarbeitet_final_3.pdf.

  • Klepp, Silja. Europa zwischen Grenzkontrolle und Flüchtlingsrecht: Eine Ethnographie der Seegrenze auf dem Mittelmeer. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2011.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Krempl, Stefan. “Smart Borders: EU-Parlament beschliesst biometrische Kontrolle.” Heise Online. https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Smart-Borders-EU-Parlament-beschliesst-biometrische-Grenzkontrolle-3872554.html. Accessed 20 September 2018.

  • Laine, Jussi, and Miika Tervonen. “Remaking the Border: Post-Soviet Borderscapes in the Finnish Media.” In Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, edited by Chiara Bramilla, Jussi Laine, James Wesley Scott, et al., 65–76. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laube, Lena. Grenzkontrollen jenseits nationaler Territorien: Die Steuerung globaler Mobilität durch liberale Staaten. Frankfurt/Main: Campus, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehnert, Matthias. “Kämpfe ums Recht: Neue Entwicklungen im europäischen Flüchtlings- und Grenzschutzrecht.” movements—Journal für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung 1, no. 1 (2015). http://movements-journal.org/issues/01.grenzregime/06.lehnert–kaempfe-ums-recht.html.

  • Lipsky, Michael. “Toward a Theory of Street-Level Bureaucracy.” Discussion Papers, University of Wisconsin, 1969. http://www.irp.wisc.edu/publications/dps/pdfs/dp4869.pdf.

  • Mau, Steffen. “Mobility Citizenship, Inequality and the Liberal State: The Case of Visa Policies.” International Political Sociology 4, no. 4 (2010): 339–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mezzadra, Sandro, and Brett Neilson. Border as Method or, the Multiplication of Labour. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pécoud, Antoine. “Freedom of Movement.” In The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, edited by Immanuel Ness. Wiley Online Library, 2013. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781444351071/toc. Accessed 20 September 2018.

  • Pécoud, Antoine, and Paul De Guchteneire. “International Migration, Border Controls and Human Rights: Assessing the Relevance of a Right to Mobility.” Journal of Borderlands Studies 21, no. 1 (2006): 69–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prokkola, Eeva-Kaisa, and Juha Ridanpää. “Border Guarding and the Politics of the Body: An Examination of the Finnish Border Guard Service.” Gender, Place & Culture 22, no. 10 (2015): 1374–1390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rumford, Chris. “Introduction: Theorizing Borders.” Special Issue of European Journal of Social Theory 9, no. 2 (2006): 155–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sager, Alex. “An Introduction to the Ethics of Migration.” In The Ethics and Politics of Immigration: Core Issues and Emerging Trends, edited by Alex Sager, 1–10. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheel, Stephan. “Das Konzept der Autonomie der Migration überdenken? Yes, please!” movements: Journal für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung 1, no. 2 (2015). http://movements-journal.org/issues/02.kaempfe/14.scheel–autonomie-der-migration.html.

  • Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, Der Bundesrat. Asylstatistik 1. Quartal 2018. https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-70455.html.

  • Scott, James. “European Politics of Borders, Border Symbolism and Cross-Border Cooperation.” In A Companion to Border Studies, edited by Thomas Wilson and Hastings Donnan, 83–99. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sidaway, James. “The Return and Eclipse of Border Studies? Charting Agendas.” Geopolitics 16, no. 4 (2011): 969–976.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sohn, Christophe, and Nora Stambolic. “The Urban Development of European Border Regions: A Spacial Typology.” Europa Regional 21, no. 4 (2013): 177–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stierl, Maurice. “The WatchTheMed Alarm Phone: A Disobedient Border-Intervention.” movements: Journal für kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung 1, no. 2 (2015). http://movements-journal.org/issues/02.kaempfe/13.stierl–watchthemed-alarmphone.html.

  • Stierl, Maurice. “A Sea of Struggle: Activist Border Interventions in the Mediterranean Sea.” Citizenship Studies 20, no. 5 (2016): 561–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swing, William Lacy. “The World Needs a New Strategy to Tackle the Migration Crisis.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/15/migration-deaths-europe-davos-strategy. Accessed 14 Jan 2017.

  • Zetter, Roger, David Griffiths, Silva Ferretti, et al. “An Assessment of the Impact of Asylum Policies in Europe 1990–2000.” In Development and Statistics Directorate, edited by Home Office Research, Study no. 259 (June 2003). http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.470.162&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Accessed 20 Dec 2017.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Basel, Switzerland

    Jana Häberlein

Authors
  1. Jana Häberlein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. History Department, University of Cologne , Cologne, Germany

    Barbara Lüthi

  2. Department of Contemporary History, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Damir Skenderovic

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Häberlein, J. (2019). The Vitality of Borders: Migration Through and Bordering Practices in Switzerland. In: Lüthi, B., Skenderovic, D. (eds) Switzerland and Migration. Palgrave Studies in Migration History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94247-6_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94247-6_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94246-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94247-6

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation