A European ‘Border’ Surveillance System under Construction

Abstract

`The border is everywhere,' wrote David Lyon, one of the leading scholars in surveillance studies in 2005. The increasing proliferation and diversification of the concept of the border is closely related to surveillance as a phenomenon and more particularly its recent technological transformation. In its broadest sense Lyon defines surveillance as `the focused, systematic and routine attention to personal details for purposes of influence, management, protection or direction' (Lyon 2007: 14). Though surveillance is a much broader theme than just surveillance by governments, the references in this chapter to borders and migration largely relate to state surveillance. Historically, this primarily concerned border surveillance which was much `professionalized' with the introduction of the passport (Torpey 2000). As state bureaucracies grew in size and organizational complexity, national states played a growing role in the regulation of international mobility. This chapter will present the concept of surveillance as essential to understanding the development and the implementation of Europe's technological borders. Surveillance will be positioned within the framework of worldwide increases in cross-border movements and the increasing pressure on states to adequately control and manage these movements.