The Fortification of the Arab States’ Borders in the Sub-Regional contexts

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The post-cold war period has witnessed a remarkable increase of the fortification and militarization of territorial borders as a direct result of new transnational challenges, including terrorism, irregular migration, drug traffi cking and weapons smuggling. Today, there are about 65 border walls around the world; most of them were built in the last three years especially in the Arab World and Eastern Europe. Although the fortifi cations of the Arab States’ borders differ in contexts and reasons, they are generally similar in structure and techniques used in their construction. The prevention of irregular immigration remains the major goal in the other regions of the world especially in North America and Eastern Europe; however, security goals, mainly the prevention of theinfiltration of armed groups, are the main reasons of the fortifi cation of Arab borders. In addition to the security goals, the current Arab border fortifications intend to prevent regular migration, goods smuggling, and drug traffi cking. Furthermore, this policy strives, in some cases, to unilaterally impose the de facto border. The key question the paper addresses is: to what extent does this fortification of Arab borders reflect the nature of the existing regional subsystems? The paper takes into account that Arab regional subsystems are characterized by mutual mistrust and suspicion, which prevent Arab states to adopt common security border policies. In addition, the current border policies are inseparable from the way in which the postcolonial Arab states’ borders were drawn.