Gregory White

Sovereignty and international labor migration: The ‘security mentality’ in Spanish–Moroccan relations as an assertion of sovereignty

ABSTRACT The increasing injection of security imperatives into migration policy has presented countries with a new form of sovereignty assertion. In this regard, the politics of ‘securitization’ provides a useful theoretical bridge across two literatures – one focusing on the character of sovereignty and the other devoted to understanding international labor migration, more often situated in the international political economy subfield. Approaching migration politics with a ‘security mentality’ is part of an effort by policymakers and citizens to respond to dynamics that are perceived to threaten a countrys sovereign status and societal security. Whether it has served to truly enhance border control and deepen sovereignty claims is a matter of sharp debate, but the symbolic politics associated with the injection of security has gone far to enhance sovereignty claims and justify border control. The case of the Moroccan–Spanish ‘migration system’ illustrates the manner in which post-Franco Spain has used migration politics to assert sovereignty claims vis-à-vis Morocco, deepen the countrys sense of societal security, and affirm its status as a full member of the European space.

Well‐oiled regimes: oil & uncertain transitions in Algeria & Nigeria

Oil has had a profound impact on countries engaged in transitions to democracy, often undermining the commitment of both local and external actors to democratization. Two African countries, Algeria and Nigeria, demonstrate how oil distorts the domestic regime structure and conditions the nature of international linkages. Key actors in the international arena ‐notably, former colonial powers, international financial institutions and transnational corporations — are inclined to support undemocratic, military regimes that supply oil, while simultaneously offering only rhetorical support for ongoing transitions. Paradoxically, despite the critical role played by international actors in sustaining undemocratic regimes, and their compromising effect on domestic affairs, the international norm of sovereignty is deployed to rationalise non‐intervention in domestic political affairs of the country.

Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution (review)

Zunes and Mundy have written the definitive book on the Western Sahara. Long neglected by Anglo-American social science, the disputed territory in northwest Africa provides the terrain on which one can explore it all: colonialism, decolonization, sovereignty, territoriality, self-determination, nationalism, security, justice, the Global War on Terror, great power ambitions, negotiations and diplomacy, local kinship ties, natural resource exploitation, and forced displacement. In 1983 Tony Hodges and John Damis each published respected monographs on the Western Sahara. Since then, a few scholars such as Pablo San Martin, Toby Shelley, and Yahia Zoubir have devoted their energies to examining the conflict. Nevertheless, the Western Sahara has been relatively understudied and even ignored in recent decades. Unlike other contexts of decolonization or disputed territories—e.g., East Timor, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Israel/Palestine—the Western Sahara has attracted neither international media attention nor extensive scholarship.

Zunes Stephen and Mundy Jacob. Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2010. With a forward by McGovern George. xxxvii + 424 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Zunes and Mundy have written the definitive book on the Western Sahara. Long neglected by Anglo-American social science, the disputed territory in northwest Africa provides the terrain on which one can explore it all: colonialism, decolonization, sovereignty, territoriality, self-determination, nationalism, security, justice, the Global War on Terror, great power ambitions, negotiations and diplomacy, local kinship ties, natural resource exploitation, and forced displacement. In 1983 Tony Hodges and John Damis each published respected monographs on the Western Sahara. Since then, a few scholars such as Pablo San Martin, Toby Shelley, and Yahia Zoubir have devoted their energies to examining the conflict. Nevertheless, the Western Sahara has been relatively understudied and even ignored in recent decades. Unlike other contexts of decolonization or disputed territories—e.g., East Timor, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Israel/Palestine—the Western Sahara has attracted neither international media attention nor extensive scholarship.

49.95. Cloth.

Zunes and Mundy have written the definitive book on the Western Sahara. Long neglected by Anglo-American social science, the disputed territory in northwest Africa provides the terrain on which one can explore it all: colonialism, decolonization, sovereignty, territoriality, self-determination, nationalism, security, justice, the Global War on Terror, great power ambitions, negotiations and diplomacy, local kinship ties, natural resource exploitation, and forced displacement. In 1983 Tony Hodges and John Damis each published respected monographs on the Western Sahara. Since then, a few scholars such as Pablo San Martin, Toby Shelley, and Yahia Zoubir have devoted their energies to examining the conflict. Nevertheless, the Western Sahara has been relatively understudied and even ignored in recent decades. Unlike other contexts of decolonization or disputed territories—e.g., East Timor, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Israel/Palestine—the Western Sahara has attracted neither international media attention nor extensive scholarship.

Stephen Zunes and Jacob Mundy. Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution . Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2010. With a forward by George McGovern. xxxvii + 424 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Where does one locate the subfield of international political economy (IPE) with its study of North-South relations and developing countries? Attempts to map the field usually work on at least two levels. In the first instance, an intra-political science conceptualization conventionally invokes the fields of international relations and comparative politics and then uses words like “intersection,” “inform,” and “complement.” Indeed, if comparative politics is traditionally viewed as the study of politics within countries (often with attention to a specific region of the globe) and international relations is preoccupied with the relationships between countries in the international arena, efforts to understand the politics of developing countries obliges IPE scholars to engage both fields. How can one understand the development experience of a country (or region) without situating it in a broader international context? Undeniably, a countrys experience with its colonial legacy, the evolution of state institutions, economic growth, poverty, corruption, globalization, and natural resource exploitation can only be understood in the dynamic context of the international arena. Gregory White is Associate Professor of Government at Smith College, Northampton, MA (gwhite@email.smith.edu). He is the author of On the Outside of Europe Looking In: A Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco (2001) and articles and book chapters on Moroccan politics and labor migration.