The State Borders in North America (edited by Anton Kireev and Jussi Laine)

• Main Author: Dupeyron, Bruno
• Other Authors: Politique, Religion, Institutions et Sociétés : Mutations Européennes - Groupe de Sociologie Politique Européenne (PRISME-GSPE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Dal'nauka
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Border; Frontiere; Etat; Amerique du Nord; [SHS.SCIPO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Political science; Arctic; Canada; Molnar; Northwest Passage; Climate change; Northwest passage
• Online Access: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01289576; https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01289576/document; https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01289576/file/dupeyron_2016_state_borders.pdf

International audience In North America, border studies generally focus on two land boundaries, the Canada-US and the US-Mexico borderlands. Yet, maritime borders become increasingly relevant, notably in the Arctic (Le Mière and Mazo 2013), since using the Northwest passage and exploiting raw materials in Northern polar regions may be soon possible, due to climate change, which incidentally triggers border security issues. Still, the core of border studies in North America can undoubtedly be found on the US-Mexico border. This borderland has contributed to forge an interdisciplinary research cluster that has been institutionalized in numerous academic departments. Also, the US-Mexico borderland has lead to the emergence of a solid interdisciplinary research network, the Association for Borderlands Studies (ABS), born in April 1976 in Tempe, Arizona (Pisani, Reyes and García 2009). The ABS is now a stimulating research venue for North-American and international scholars alike that welcomes varying theoretical and methodological approaches to border studies.Those multiple border perspectives in social sciences are scrutinized by Michèle Lamont and Virga Molnar (2002). They examine four main transversal research agendas: social and collective identity; class, racial and gender inequality; professions, knowledge and science; and communities, national identities and spatial boundaries. The literature on borders and border regions in North America reveals that border regions are zones of transition, that range from fully integrated borderlands to sharply divided border territories, with varying socio-economic landscapes (Martinez 1996). On the Canada-US border, smart borders are increasingly tested and implemented, so that border security measures do not disrupt the flows of people and goods (Sparke 2006). The construction of (less smart) border security apparatus, such as border walls and fences in US- Mexico border regions, can regenerate cultural production and interactions (Amilhat-Szary 2012). The ...