The “Schengen Turn” as the Reshaping of the French-Italian Border: The Critical Convergence of the Geography of Border Controls and Capitalist Dynamics (1990s-2000s)

ABSTRACT

On the 1st of January 1993, border controls at the French-Italian border were officially “abolished” in the framework of the Schengen area. However, the border didn’t disappear; rather, its geography adjusted to the evolution of the capitalist logics of the European market, creating a hierarchized borderzone where “boundaries and scales intersect to fuel further expansion of (…) the frontiers of capital” (Mezzadra and Neilson 2013, 321). The article draws on the fields of critical border studies and radical geography to show the critical convergence of capitalist dynamics and border police practices in the French-Italian border zone. This has been reflected in the production of transport infrastructures enabling high-speed cross-border circulation at the expense of local roads and practices. Moreover, the evolution from “fixed” border control to “random and mobile” identity checks led to the creation of a police targeting system that selects passengers on the basis of a social-racial profiling. After the Schengen agreements, the French-Italian border became a mobile device allowing the accumulation of capital through the selection of “legitimate travelers” and the control of “illegal migrants”, enacting locally the “polarization of mobility” (Bauman 1998) that occured at a global scale at the turn of the twenty-first century.

KEYWORDS:

• Schengen area
• French-Italian border
• border control
• social-racial profiling
• spatial-fix
• frontiers of capital

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Schengen Agreement was signed by five countries, including France, in June 1985. Italy signed the convention implementing the agreement in November 1990. Systematic border controls within the Schengen area ceased on 1 January 1993.

2 Sergio Benedetti, “Farewell, border!”, article in Nice-Matin, 30 July 1992, available in the municipal archives of Menton.

3 P.H. “Custom agents without borders”, Nice-Matin (date unknown), available in the municipal archives of Menton.

4 Jean-Charles Pierson, Nice-Matin, 6 November 1992, available in the municipal archives of Menton.

5 Unknown author, Nice-Matin, 1 January 1993, available in the municipal archives of Menton.

6 SCI Menton, DDCILEC des Alpes-Maritimes, “Note de service du 24/10/1997,” 2683W385, Archives Départementales des Alpes-Maritimes.

7 Source: Ministry of Interior, French Border police. SCI Menton, DDCILEC des Alpes-Maritimes, “Note de service du 24/10/1997”, 2683W385, Archives of Alpes-Maritimes (ADAM).

8 Press archives are available for consultation at the Menton Municipal archives; additionally, I accessed René Siestrunck’s private archives.

9 Accessible on the French National Audiovisual Institute’s website.

10 Interviews with local residents of Menton (December 2022) and Montgenèvre, as well as the mayor of Clavière (February 2023).

11 Nice-Matin, “La douane, perspective 1992, des missions appelées à s’affirmer de plus en plus,” article signed S. T., 1987. Archives Municipales de Menton, filename “Douanes.”

12 Interview with a PAF executive in Menton, January 2023

13 Interviews with border customs officers in Menton, December 2022

14 Interview with a PAF executive in Menton, January 2023

15 Archives de la Direction départementale de la PAF (2001), versement : Préfecture des Alpes-Maritimes, cabinet du Préfet. Cote: 1444W580. Archives Départementales des Alpes-Maritimes

16 Interview with a retired border customs officer in the Menton brigade, December 2022.

17 Interview with a border customs officer in the Menton brigade, December 2022.

18 Interviews with residents of Menton, January 2023.

19 Archives de la Direction départementale de la PAF (2001), versement : Préfecture des Alpes-Maritimes, cabinet du Préfet. Cote: 1444W580. Archives Départementales des Alpes-Maritimes

20 “Note d’information, interpellation d’un passeur albanais”, SPAF de Menton, Flash-information du 16/10/2001, Archives de la Direction départementale de la PAF (2001), versement : Préfecture des Alpes-Maritimes, cabinet du Préfet. Cote: 1444W581. Archives Départementales des Alpes-Maritimes

21 This average number was calculated based on the August and December data for each year mentioned.

22 Préfecture. Cabinet du préfet, 1444W580, Activités de la DDPAF Alpes-Maritimes (2001), ADAM; Direction départementale de la police aux frontières. - Service de la police aux frontières de Menton, 1932W369 (1996), ADAM

23 Interview with a PAF executive in Menton, January 2023.

24 Interview with an Italian border police officer in Ventimiglia, March 2023.

25 Idem.

26 Interview with a retired train driver of the Ventimiglia–Cannes line, December 2022.

27 Interview with H., Sudanese refugee, April 2022.

28 Archives Départementales des Alpes-Maritimes, 1444W604

29 Lionel Arce-Mensot, “L’exode des damnés de la guerre”, Le Dauphiné Libéré, personal archives of René Siestrunck

30 “Des centaines de sans-papiers interpellés à la frontière franco-italienne”, Le Monde, 14 November 1998, personal archives of René Siestrunck

31 Interview with H., former Sudanese refugee in France, April 2022.

32 « escalade mortifère » in the original text.

33 See the following reports : “Report Annual”, Osservatorio Turistico della Regione Liguria, 2015 ; “Les clientèles touristiques de la région Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur,” région PACA, printemps 2010-2015.

34 All the figures were elaborated by the author.