Christopher Changwe Nshimbi

Visible and Invisible Bordering Practices: The EU-African Migration Conundrum and Spatial Mobility of Borders

Purpose Despite enacting numerous legislations, policies and practices accommodating third country nationals, Europe continues to erect a fortress against foreigners. The recent migration crisis on the shores of the Mediterranean seem to validate this view. As Europe searches for optimal solutions to the migration crisis, recent media and humanitarian organisation reports of surging African and Middle Eastern refugees and migrants bring into sharp focus and test these immigration measures. For this cause, the purpose of this paper is to interrogate European Union (EU)-Africa relationships on international migration issues. Design/methodology/approach Located in the evolving field of border studies, the paper employs the concepts of displacement and humanitarianism in an effort to frame the EU-Africa relations on migration in the context of borders, boundaries and frontiers. A thorough review and critical analysis of relevant legislations, literature and media reports on the Africa-Europe migration interface is also conducted. Findings The militarisation, securitisation, restrictive and, sometimes, draconian immigration regimes do not provide sustainable solutions to the migration crisis facing Europe. A rethinking around the integration and inclusion of immigrants into Europes socioeconomic fabric, and addressing fundamental and structural weaknesses in EU-Africa relationships and respective economies is essential. Originality/value Theoretically, the paper attempts to understand better, the way the EU and Africa engage each other on international migration issues, in the context of border studies. Empirically, the paper positions itself in policy engagements and the quest for practical solutions by the two continents in view of the migration crisis currently facing Europe.

Networks of Cross-border Non-State Actors: The Role of Social Capital in Regional Integration

ABSTRACT This paper examines the contribution of networks of cross-border grassroots non-State actors to regional integration. It uses three assumptions to determine whether sub-regional schemes augment regional integration: (a) networks of grassroots non-State actors connect communities that share common backgrounds, histories and cultures; (b) interactions in the networks generate a trust that stabilizes them and contributes to network efficiency; and (c) where these networks straddle State boundaries, they integrate the economies that host the communities of actors in the networks and thus enhance integration. The paper achieves its objective by illustrating these assumptions in the context of sub-regional integration in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa. A thorough review of the literature on regional and sub-regional integration, borderland studies, etc. is conducted along with the use of social capital and historical, socioeconomic and political accounts to illustrate the role of informal networks in integration. Because networks, norms and trust dominate conceptual discussion of social capital (Schuller, T., S. Baron, and J. Field. 2000. Social capital: A review and critique. In Social capital: Critical perspectives, eds. S. Baron, J. Field, and T. Schuller, 1–38. Oxford: Oxford University Press.), the paper conceptualizes the terms in the context of social capital. Participant observations, face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions conducted during extensive fieldwork between September 2013 and November 2014 at selected border posts, in the major border towns of the adjacent provinces of the ZMM-GT, in markets and villages in the contiguous border areas of the growth triangle also provide the primary data employed in the analysis. Sub-regional initiatives contribute to development, as does macro-regionalism. Unlike Southeast Asians, people in southern Africa are primarily driven by the need for survival and operate less on ethnic lines. However, a clear demonstration of social capital and cohesion is evident here. Leaders in Africa should encourage cross-border ethnic and kinship ties rather than abuse ethnicity for political gain.

Rethinking Regional Integration for Development and Eradication of Poverty in Africa: The Missing Link

Six decades after Africa started attaining independence its states remain distinct and underdeveloped, despite the “Africa rising” hype and the historical consideration that integration is essential to transformation and development. Why is Africa failing to integrate and subsequently achieve development and overcome poverty? This chapter attempts to answer this question through a comparative historical assessment of competing ideational explanations of and associated solutions to Africa’s perceived developmental challenges, and highlights three that have been prominent as well as exploring their inadequacies in addressing the continent’s developmental challenges. Africa’s inability to harness a bustling informal sector amidst claims of lack of funds for development and continued dependence on external technical assistance shows a failure to realize long-term aspirations to train, mobilize and effectively utilize Africa’s human resources for an African-driven, self-reliant development.

The Human Side of Regions: Informal Cross-border Traders in the Zambia–Malawi–Mozambique Growth Triangle and Prospects for Integrating Southern Africa

ABSTRACT This paper examines the activities of informal cross-border traders (ICBTs) in the contiguous borderlands of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, in order to determine the replicability and feasibility of the growth triangle phenomenon, which was imported as a concept for economic development from Southeast Asia. It also seeks to establish whether ICBTs can satisfy their economic needs from cross-border trade. Apart from the thorough review of relevant literature, participant observations, face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions were deployed to collect the data for the analysis contained in the paper. Primary data from the fieldwork conducted at various locations in the borderlands is qualitatively and statistically analyzed. ICBTs in these areas include affiliates of traders’ associations and non-affiliates. The contiguous borderlands of the three countries comprise a young population of ICBTs with low incomes who have spent relatively few years in cross-border trade. ICBTs who have been longer in the informal trade business have graduated into formal traders. ICBT activities highlight their contribution to regional integration, from the bottom up. Informal cross-border trade provides employment and livelihoods, placing ICBTs outside extremely poor populations living below USD

Innovating Policy and Systems of Innovation for Regional Integration

1.25 per day. ICBTs also have innovative informal ways of accessing credit based on personal interactions and shared experiences with suppliers of goods. Legally establishing the growth triangle creates an environment that ICBTs exploit in order to satisfy their economic needs, especially with government facilitation.

Migration, Logics of Inclusion and Exclusion and Xenophobia: The Case of African Migrants in Post-apartheid South Africa

The concept national system of innovation (NSI) is popular in innovation parlance. In general, the definition of NSI locates the interactions that occur between the various elements promoting the production and use of knowledge in the confines of the nation-state. This is besides the fact that systems of national innovation, NSI policy, and policy for NSI are by default formal. They focus on the firm, formal organizations and the formal environment of the domestic economy. This chapter breaks from convention and attempts to innovate around innovation policy, systems of innovation and regionalism.

Between Neoliberal Orthodoxy and Securitisation: Prospects and Challenges for a Borderless Southern African Community

This contribution explores xenophobic tendencies in post-apartheid South Africa through historical sketches that revolve around debates of belonging, inclusion and exclusion. Such a historicity has created a legacy of suspicion and stigmatisation of migrants from within and without the country resulting in a fractured society with some implicit or explicit ‘othering’ on the basis of suspicion and fear. This has provided a template for exclusion of African migrants through promotion of indigeneity and/or reconfiguration of an exclusivist South African identity, which relegates migrants from other African countries to the subaltern, second and third classiness—a site for xenophobia. On the other hand, South African authorities are faced with a dilemma: they find it difficult to acknowledge the reality of xenophobic hostilities. Doing so would force them to accept that an underlying and continuing exclusivist narrative exists. If xenophobia contributes to the promotion of an exclusive South African identity, we question the approaches that have been adopted to try and resolve the xenophobic challenge and argue that the first real step towards dealing with xenophobia does not rest in denouncing it. Rather, the solution lies in engaging and investing in concerted efforts that ‘clean up’ the image of the African migrant.

Informal Immigrant Traders in Johannesburg: The Scorned Cornerstone in the Southern African Development Community Integration Project

This contribution considers the possibility of a borderless Southern Africa—under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This is done against the realities and understandings of migration and contested notions of citizenship and development in Southern Africa. A thorough review of legislative and policy frameworks of different types of migration at the regional and national levels in Southern Africa was conducted. Primary data were obtained through personal interviews with policy-makers, migrants and other non-state actors whilst participant observations were also conducted at border posts, government immigration offices and refugee application centres. The chapter proffers that Southern Africa is characterised by open borders, with substantial formal and informal cross-border movements that have political and socio-economic costs. However, the most preferred destinations by migrants in the region have systematically opposed the establishment of a formal free-movement-of-people regime across the region for over 20 years. Still, regional legislation and the realities of formal and informal movement across national borders in the SADC region show the necessity for member states to establish a migration management regime devoid of borders. This, however, will have to be carefully crafted, fully considering the region’s history and the challenges associated with migration.

The Tenacity and Lasting Reality of Cross-Border Movements and Trade in the SADC Region

Taking the case of informal cross-border traders from Southern Africa in Johannesburg, human mobility is discussed as one of four productive factors that are key to regional integration. Employing three levels of analysis—regional, national and local—discussion is confined to economically active persons. Key Southern African Development Community (SADC) instruments relating to human mobility are also discussed. Existing and corresponding national and local legislation, by-laws, policies and practices are investigated to highlight the extent to which SADC members implement regional instruments. Using in-depth interviews with informal cross-border traders in Johannesburg from SADC countries, the findings show the absence of supportive legal-institutional regulatory regimes to promote the activities of immigrant traders. This demonstrates that an important element in the SADC integration project is unwelcome or ignored.

History, Trends and Dynamics of Cross-Border Movements and Trade in the SADC Region

Cross-border migration and trade are an important and integral part of migration in the SADC region. They contribute to poverty reduction, and are a source of livelihood for many people. Despite the lack of SADC policies that enhance cross-border migration and trade, these appear to be a practical approach to regional economic integration from below. Chapter 8 argues that as countries in the SADC region are committed to the regional integration project, there is a need to seize the opportunity that cross-border trade and migration presents. The chapter suggests that all that is needed are policies that enhance cross-border migration and trade, especially informal cross-border trade, which is regarded as not only informal but in some cases criminal. Ironically, it supports significant numbers of people in the region and is also responsible for moving capital, goods and services. Although unrecognized, cross-border migration and trade are important signposts not only in the political economy of the region, but also in the direction that regional integration should take.