1st Edition
Frontex and the Rising of a New Border Control Culture in Europe
This book examines the rapidly expanding EU agency’s distinct role in EU border control, showing that Frontex is a prominent border control actor that reshapes the EU borders by promoting a new border control culture.
Bringing culture into the analysis of Frontex, this book offers an alternative in-depth understanding of the agency’s function, focusing on the production and diffusion of border control assumptions and practices within a border control community. Based on data drawn from primary research at Frontex and two EU external borders, namely Lampedusa and Evros, this book examines Frontex’s contribution to the emergence of a new border control culture in Europe, replacing the pre-existing Schengen culture. Compared with the existing literature on Frontex, this novel account takes into consideration the evolving nature of borders and border control, discussing three contemporary challenges for the established border control regime: Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and hard security preoccupations, such as the fall-out from the Russian invasion in Ukraine and the weaponisation of migration at the Greek-Turkish land border.
Frontex and the Rising of a New Border Control Culture in Europe will appeal to scholars and students of border management, EU studies, migration, geography, international relations, and security, along with policymakers and practitioners with an interest in EU border control and Frontex.
1. Introduction: the irrelevancy of Schengenland and Frontex’s rise
Border evolution
New ‘kids’ on the border control block
Setting Frontex’s scene
Border control actors
Speaking of culture
Cultures of border control
To Schengen or not to Schengen?
A new border control culture?
Book overview
Notes
References
2. Frontex: an insurgent border control actor
Introduction
Frontex’s birth
Frontex’s governance
Frontex’s expansion
Frontex’s institutional brigade
Frontex’s deeds
Frontex’s role in EU border control: reviewing the literature
Towards Frontex’s reinvigoration: bringing culture in
Conclusion
Notes
References
3. Constructing Frontex’s culture
Introduction
Frontex: the essential EU border control actor
Delving into Frontex’s cultural traits
Conclusion
Notes
References
4. Constructing the border of Lampedusa
Introduction
The island setting
The making of a border
Border control conduct and actors
Frontex on the field
Border control assumptions and practices in Lampedusa
Conclusion
Notes
References
5. Constructing the border of Evros
Introduction
The river setting
The making of a border
Border control conduct and actors
Frontex on the field
Border control assumptions and practices in Evros
Evros and Lampedusa: drawing differences and similarities
Conclusion
Notes
References
6. Border control in process: the rise of Warsaw culture
Introduction
Culture loading
And its name shall be Warsaw culture
Schengen, Westphalia, Brussels, and Warsaw: variant in name only?
From Schengen to Warsaw
Frontex in Warsaw
Out of Frontex’s box: EU institutions in Warsaw
Conclusion
Notes
References
7. Challenges to Warsaw culture
Introduction
Unsettling a settled culture
Brexit and the English Channel
Borders amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Borders and hard security
Conclusion
Notes
References
8. Conclusion: Frontex’s leadership and the re-drawing of EU border control
Evolving borders
The rise of a new border control culture
The Frontex effect
Frontex’s cultural impact
Between a rock and a hard place?
Looking ahead
Concluding reflections
Notes
References
Biography
Antonia-Maria Sarantaki is postdoctoral researcher in the School of Economics and Political Sciences at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and academic fellow in the Department of International and European Economic Studies at Athens University of Economics and Business. She holds an MSc Econ in Security Studies from Aberystwyth University, UK and a PhD in European Politics from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece. Her PhD thesis focused on borders and the EU border control policy regime.
