Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide / Edition 2

by Peter Andreas

Overview

The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, the longest and most dramatic meeting point of a rich and poor country, and the site of intense confrontation between law enforcement and law evasion. Border control has changed in recent years from a low-maintenance and politically marginal activity to an intensive campaign focusing on drugs and migrant labor. Yet the unprecedented buildup of border policing has taken place in an era otherwise defined by the opening of the border, most notably through NAFTA. This contrast creates a borderless economy with a barricaded border.

In the updated and expanded second edition of his essential book on policing the U.S.-Mexico border, Peter Andreas places the continued sharp escalation of border policing in the context of a transformed post-September 11 security environment. As Andreas demonstrates, in some ways it is still the same old border game but more difficult to manage, with more players, played out on a bigger stage, and with higher stakes and collateral damage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801475405
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2009
Series:	Cornell Studies in Political Economy
Edition description:	second edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Peter Andreas is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Blue Helmets and Black Markets, also from Cornell, coauthor of Drug War Politics and Policing the Globe, and the coeditor of The Rebordering of North America and The Wall Around the West.

Table of Contents

PART I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1. The Escalation of Border Policing
2. The Political Economy of Global SmugglingPART II. POLICING AND SMUGGLING ACROSS THEU.S.-MEXICO BORDER
3. Creating the Clandestine Side of the Border Economy
4. The Escalation of Drug Control
5. The Escalation of Immigration ControlPART III. EXTENSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
6. Policing the External Borders of the New Europe
7. Borders RestatedAfterword: Border Games in a New Security ContextIndex

What People are Saying About This

Douglas S. Massey

Border Games is a penetrating analysis that not only exposes the hypocrisy of U.S. border policy in devastating detail, but explains why border enforcement has become a political necessity in the core nations of a rapidly globalizing economy. It is required reading for any serious student of the politics of immigration.

John H. Coatsworth

This fascinating and thoughtful book should be read by every citizen, policymaker, scholar, and student seeking to understand how the United States has so artfully managed to import the illegal drugs and undocumented workers its consumers and employers demand, while its government gets credit for eye-catching but ineffective campaigns to control the U.S. border with Mexico. Peter Andreas has caught the underside of the NAFTA paradox perfectly.

Abraham F. Lowenthal

With analytical skill, political savvy, empirical rigor, comparative insight and a keen sense of paradox, Peter Andreas explores a fascinating aspect of U.S. relations with Mexico today: that while state control of legal trade has been greatly relaxed and the border opened, there has been a simultaneous effort to make the border seem more closed to illegal flows of narcotics and people.

Editorial Reviews

The difficulty in policing a complex border like that between the United States and Mexico, specifically stemming the flow of illegal drugs and immigration, demonstrates, according to Peter Andreas's insightful and pathbreaking analysis, the challenge associated with globalization, diminished sovereignty, and economic integration between developed and developing countries.... Andreas's insightful and rigorous study is an important contribution to the literature on globalization and transnational illicit trade.

Frank O. Moran Political Science Review

This outstanding book is a much-needed addition to the literature on the policing of international boundaries. Because it is so well written and concise, it fits beautifully into political geography curricula at the undergraduate as well as at the graduate level. Hopefully the book will inspire geographers to take up questions similar to those that Peter Andreas has so capably interrogated.

The Professional Geographer - Joseph Nevins

Border Games provides an in-depth and comparative analysis of the border policies.... Required reading for anyone with an interest in U.S.-Mexico relations and the American West.

--Jeff Biggers "The Bloomsbury Review"

An engaging and readable book.... This slim volume is recommended for all levels.

-- "Choice"

At a time when economic globalization is seen opening borders throughout the world, the boundary enforcement has intensified along the longest border between a rich and poor country, the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Andreas offers a broad overview of smuggling immigrants and drugs into the U.S. from Mexico and intensified enforcement efforts. On a broader scale, Andreas looks at international trends in smuggling and border enforcement in Europe.

-- "Booklist"

The difficulty in policing a complex border like that between the United States and Mexico, specifically stemming the flow of illegal drugs and immigration, demonstrates, according to Peter Andreas's insightful and pathbreaking analysis, the challenge associated with globalization, diminished sovereignty, and economic integration between developed and developing countries.... Andreas's insightful and rigorous study is an important contribution to the literature on globalization and transnational illicit trade.

--Frank O. Mora "American Political Science Review"

This outstanding book is a much-needed addition to the literature on the policing of international boundaries. Because it is so well written and concise, it fits beautifully into political geography curricula at the undergraduate as well as at the graduate level. Hopefully the book will inspire geographers to take up questions similar to those that Peter Andreas has so capably interrogated.

--Joseph Nevins "The Professional Geographer"

From the Publisher

The difficulty in policing a complex border like that between the United States and Mexico, specifically stemming the flow of illegal drugs and immigration, demonstrates, according to Peter Andreas's insightful and pathbreaking analysis, the challenge associated with globalization, diminished sovereignty, and economic integration between developed and developing countries.... Andreas's insightful and rigorous study is an important contribution to the literature on globalization and transnational illicit trade.

American Political Science Review - Frank O. Mora

In recent years, the United States and Mexico significantly liberalized trade regulations via the NAFTA treaty while also increasing the policing of the border area to stop the smuggling of people, drugs, and illegal goods. Andreas (Drug War Politics: The Price of Denial) argues that this contradiction serves less to prevent smuggling than to provide a stage for both America and Mexico to reaffirm national identities by demonstrating the ability to protect borders. Individuals in both countries use smuggling and illegal immigration for political gain, while neither nation does much to diminish the demand for drugs or the low-cost labor of illegal aliens. The author provides an excellent overview of the topic of smuggling and makes interesting comparisons between U.S.-Mexico border control and policing in Eastern and Southern Europe. This well-written work adds to the social and cultural focus provided in David Spener and Kathleen Staudt's The U.S.-Mexico Border: Transcending Divisions, Contesting Identities (Lynne Rienne Pub.,1998). Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.--Stephen L. Hupp, Urbana Univ., OH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

Border Games provides an in-depth and comparative analysis of the border policies.... Required reading for anyone with an interest in U.S.-Mexico relations and the American West.

The Bloomsbury Review - Jeff Biggers

An engaging and readable book.... This slim volume is recommended for all levels.

Choice

At a time when economic globalization is seen opening borders throughout the world, the boundary enforcement has intensified along the longest border between a rich and poor country, the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Andreas offers a broad overview of smuggling immigrants and drugs into the U.S. from Mexico and intensified enforcement efforts. On a broader scale, Andreas looks at international trends in smuggling and border enforcement in Europe.

Booklist

"At a time when economic globalization is seen opening borders throughout the world, the boundary enforcement has intensified along the longest border between a rich and poor country, the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Andreas offers a broad overview of smuggling immigrants and drugs into the U.S. from Mexico and intensified enforcement efforts. On a broader scale, Andreas looks at international trends in smuggling and border enforcement in Europe."

Booklist

"With analytical skill, political savvy, empirical rigor, comparative insight and a keen sense of paradox, Peter Andreas explores a fascinating aspect of U.S. relations with Mexico today: that while state control of legal trade has been greatly relaxed and the border opened, there has been a simultaneous effort to make the border seem more closed to illegal flows of narcotics and people."

Abraham F. Lowenthal

"This fascinating and thoughtful book should be read by every citizen, policymaker, scholar, and student seeking to understand how the United States has so artfully managed to import the illegal drugs and undocumented workers its consumers and employers demand, while its government gets credit for eye-catching but ineffective campaigns to control the U.S. border with Mexico. Peter Andreas has caught the underside of the NAFTA paradox perfectly."

John H. Coatsworth

"Border Games is a penetrating analysis that not only exposes the hypocrisy of U.S. border policy in devastating detail, but explains why border enforcement has become a political necessity in the core nations of a rapidly globalizing economy. It is required reading for any serious student of the politics of immigration."

Douglas S. Massey