Back to Results
Cover image of American Crossings
Cover image of American Crossings
Share this Title:

American Crossings

Border Politics in the Western Hemisphere

edited by Maiah Jaskoski, Arturo C. Sotomayor, and Harold A. Trinkunas

Publication Date
Binding Type

Who—and what—moves from one country to another has real implications for security studies, international relations, and the ideal of democracy.

In summer 2014, US agencies responsible for the border with Mexico were overwhelmed by tens of thousands of unaccompanied children arriving from Central America. Unprepared to address this unexpected kind of migrant, the US government deployed troops to carry out a new border mission: the feeding, care, and housing of this wave of children.

This event highlights the complex social, economic, and political issues that arise along borders. In American...

Who—and what—moves from one country to another has real implications for security studies, international relations, and the ideal of democracy.

In summer 2014, US agencies responsible for the border with Mexico were overwhelmed by tens of thousands of unaccompanied children arriving from Central America. Unprepared to address this unexpected kind of migrant, the US government deployed troops to carry out a new border mission: the feeding, care, and housing of this wave of children.

This event highlights the complex social, economic, and political issues that arise along borders. In American Crossings, nine scholars consider the complicated modern history of borders in the Western Hemisphere, examining borders as geopolitical boundaries, key locations for internal security, spaces for international trade, and areas where national and community identities are defined.

Among the provocative questions raised are: Why are Peru and Chile inclined to legalize territory disputes through the International Court of Justice, undermining their militaries? Why has economic integration in the "Tri-Border Area" of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay increased illicit trade supporting transnational terrorist groups? And how has a weak Ecuadorian presence at the EcuadorColombia border encouraged Colombian guerrillas to enforce the international borderline?

Reviews

Reviews

American Crossings intelligently considers why Latin America is a region substantially at peace with itself.

An original, straightforward analysis of the various functions that borders play, this book is a theoretically fascinating treatment of a significant subject.

About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
248
ISBN
9781421418308
Illustration Description
1 line drawing, 2 maps
Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Borders in the Americas: Theories and Realities
Part I: Geopolitics of Borders
Chapter 2. Borders, Rivalries, and the Racketeer State: An Alternative Theory to State

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Borders in the Americas: Theories and Realities
Part I: Geopolitics of Borders
Chapter 2. Borders, Rivalries, and the Racketeer State: An Alternative Theory to State Development in Latin America
Chapter 3. Legalizing and Judicializing Territorial and Maritime Border Disputes in Latin America: Causes and Unintended Consequences
Chapter 4. Political Learning Through a Transgovernmental Network: Resolving the Argentine-Chilean Border Dispute During the 1990s
Part II: National Policies for Border Security and Cross-Border Trade
Chapter 5. Regional Peace and Unintended Consequences: The Peculiar
Case of the Tri-Border Area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay
Chapter 6. Rivalry, Trade, and Restraint on the Colombia-Venezuela Border
Chapter 7. Northbound "Threats" at the United States–Mexico Border: What Is Crossing Today, and Why?
Part III: Licit and Illicit Behavior by Borderland Actors
Chapter 8. Illicit Americas: Historical Dynamics of Smuggling in the United States' Relations with Its Neighbors
Chapter 9. The Colombian FARC in Northern Ecuador: Borderline and Borderland Dynamics
Chapter 10. Making Sense of Borders: Global Circulations and the Rule of Law at the Iguazú Triangle
Chapter 11. Conclusions
List of Contributors
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Maiah Jaskoski

Maiah Jaskoski is an assistant professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
Arturo C. Sotomayor
Featured Contributor

Arturo C. Sotomayor

Arturo C. Sotomayor is an assistant professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is coeditor of Mexico’s Security Failure: Collapse into Criminal Violence and El mundo desde México: ensayos de política internacional.
Featured Contributor

Harold A. Trinkunas

Harold A. Trinkunas is director of the Latin America Initiative at The Brookings Institution and author of Crafting Civilian Control of the Military in Venezuela: A Comparative Perspective.