Fragile edges between security and insecurity: China's border regions

Abstract

Considerable analysis has focused on regions in which a fragile state or states interact with neighboring states to incubate widening, regional conflict; however, work addressing the impact of fragile states on the countries with which they share an international border from a subregional or subnational perspective has been more limited. This chapter seeks to contribute to filling this gap by looking at the particular vulnerabilities to human security experienced by the subregions along borders of fragile states. Focusing on China's border with North Korea, this chapter examines the dimensions of fragility in China's border areas to formulate some preliminary conclusions about the dynamics of subregional fragility. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.