The management of the European-Western African border: issues of centre-periphery relations and racism

Abstract

The European integration process has immanently been a security project since its conception. During the Cold War, it safeguarded Western Europe from Warsaw Pact annexations; after the Cold War, it counters "new security" threats. Illegal immigration has been pointed out as one such threat. Drawing from the case of the European-Western African border region, I describe in this paper the European/Spanish repressive and 'benevolent' responses to this phenomenon, and discuss critical perspectives on postcolonial centre-periphery relations and racism emerging from that framework.