Stanley-Becker’s Europe without Borders: A History feels particularly timely, which might feel strange for a history. But it is by looking at the origins of the Schengen area, and its evolution, that the current tensions within that area, and Europe as a whole, can begin to be understood. These are the same tensions that led to Brexit and that now shape responses to Ukraine, both the war and its relationship with the EU.
From the Fontainebleau proposals for a ‘Citizens’ Europe’ via a legal case about who should pay fees to study cartoon art in Liege, Belgium, and the horrors in the seas off Lampedusa, Italy, to the current day, the development of European borders has been a messy blend of political ideals, economic pragmatism and differing exclusionary desires. Moving in scope from the early meetings in Schengen to the present day, Europe without Borders maps the developing border regimes that grew from agreements between the Benelux states to a system of treaties and agreements that dominates the continent of Europe, its borders, and relationships with countries that lie beyond.
Europe without Borders should not be mistaken for a simple historic narrative and explanation of the development of the Schengen area, for it balances analysis and discussion of sources, which do provide a chronology, with wider considerations of the ideas and political events behind the decisions made and the future implications of those decisions. And it is the implications of those decisions that still drive European politics today.
That inherent contradiction between the freedom for the member citizens of the area, and the draconian restrictions for non-members, might seem like a stumbling block, necessarily overcome for the functioning of the Schengen area, but Stanley-Becker, in sketching out the pressures that drove the creation of the modern border regime, shows that such contradictions are not a byproduct of how systems were developed, but an integral basis for them.
One thing that really stood out to me was the overt nature of the racist policies underpinning the development of these border regimes. Even in the earliest stages lists of “undesirables” were made and kept confidential by the member states. This suggests that even at the time it was seen as something morally indefensible. It is sadly easy to guess at what nationalities were on those lists – pick a country colonised by a European state, and you’d have pretty good odds.
For a book addressing such a complicated subject, it is understandable that the prose sometimes becomes a little dense, with its flow broken by qualifications and additional details. However, that information and Stanley-Becker’s habit of repeating key points, is what makes Europe without Borders work, even for those less familiar with the underlying history.
In melding rigorous scholarship with a keen eye for the human nature behind the events described, Stanley-Becker has created an authoritative, and readable, text. It is a text that both lays out the history of the Schengen area and highlights the inherent contradictions between borders as an internal crossing-point and external boundary.
Words by Ed Bedford
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