Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 7.2 The representation of an invasion (source: Frontex, 2009).
The EU as a Gated Community
The geopolitical result of the fiercer b/ordering of the EU is a bifurcated policy of im-
migration in which a strong selection among non-EU migrants is made between those
who are wanted (investors, tourists, some IT managers, nurses, cleaners, construction
workers, etc.) and who are unwanted (the rest), largely based on the net result of their
migration for the national economy and national cultural identity. Those who wish to
enter the EU and fall outside the nationally defined and continually changing category
of “wanted migrants” often are denied access and hence are increasingly taking irregu-
lar migration routes (see also Carrera 2007a, 2009). In this context, Roos Pijpers and I
have argued that by implementing such a protectionist and highly selective immigration
policy,theEUhascometoresembleagatedcommunityinwhichthebiopoliticalcontrol
and management of immigration is, to a large extent, the product of fear (van Houtum
and Boedeltje 2009; van Houtum and Pijpers 2007). The community thereby defines it-
self to be the good life, thereby reifying figures of societal difference and danger, such
asthecriminal,theterrorist,theinvadingenemy,themigrant.Oftenfearmanifestsitself
in terms of fear of losing economic welfare, cultural identity, or public security. More
often, however, this fear relates to the entrance of the immigrant, the stranger, and is, as
 
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