Globalization has not led to fewer borders. Modern techniques classify between wanted and unwanted mobile people. The German sociologist Steffen Mau explains in an interview what the dangers of this are. On June 13, he will give a Karl Popper Lecture at the Vienna Academy.
Traveling in the Schengen area has become easy. You often don’t even realize you’re crossing a border: there’s no scrutiny by a border guard and no stamp in your passport. Modern borders are becoming more and more digital, smart borders have long worked with biometric data.
In his current book Sorting Machines. The reinvention of the border in the 21st century” shows Steffen Mau, professor of macrosociology at the Humboldt University of Berlin, but also the negative side of this development. While for some the doors open automatically like in a department store, for others the borders become more impassable and dangerous. On June 13, Mau will give a lecture by Karl Popper on this topic as part of the Academy lectures in the ballroom of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW).
Karl Popper Lecture by Steffen Mau: “Sorting machines. The reinvention of the frontier in the 21st century”
Time: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at 6:00 pm
Location: Ballroom of the OeAW, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
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Simultaneity of open and closed borders
On social media, you see digital nomads working around the globe as if there were no more borders. How one-sided is this image?
Steffen Mau: Of course, there are people for whom mobility is part of everyday life, who can move relatively freely without state control. At the same time, borders as barriers and dividers are gaining importance. Globalization brought not only the opening of borders, but also the closing of borders, not only mobility, but also immobility. My thesis is that these two aspects are closely related.
Globalization has not only brought about the opening of borders, but also the closing of borders.”
What developments are you observing?
Meow: We always thought that the wall came down in 1989 and the world became more permeable. But really, we didn’t have strict boundaries in the 1970s and 1980s than we have today. Back then, five percent of all borders in the world were wall borders – today it’s 20 percent. More than 80 borders are secured with barbed wire and concrete structures. Almost every week we have news of new borders, for example between Poland and Belarus or between Finland and Russia.
MODERN BORDERS ARE NOT TERRITORIAL
So is there a huge disparity between who is free to roam and who is not?
Meow: Sort the boundaries between wanted and unwanted mobile people. Our research has shown that visa waiver programs were a postwar invention. Starting in the 1950s, people from rich and democratic countries were gradually exempted from visas across the country. From the 1970s to the present day, people in the Global North have managed to massively expand their ability to cross borders. On the other hand, the situation has deteriorated significantly for people in African countries. It was easier for them to come to Europe in the 1960s and 1970s than it is today in the age of globalization.
There is a limit before the limit. Border control is moving to the EU’s external border, to North Africa or even sub-Saharan Africa.”
What are modern borders like?
Meow: Border control does not always take place where the border is. There is a limit before the limit. Border controls are moving to the EU’s external border, to North Africa or even to sub-Saharan Africa. Borders become sorting machines. For some they become less and less important – they work like an automatic door in a department store – for others they become more impenetrable, even deadly. According to estimates, around 20,000 people have died on the European border with the Mediterranean since 2014. At the same time, it is easy to fly over for tourists and receive travelers.
THE LIMIT OF THE FUTURE IS DIGITAL
What role does technology play?
Meow: We are talking about intelligent borders, that is, digitized borders. Huge collections of data lie below the border – through biometric enrollment, facial measurement, electronic fingerprint or iris scanning, the border can clearly determine who they are. The more this technological upgrade progresses, the less we need to carry documents. Some are already talking about facial passports: our face can become our identity card.
Some are already talking about facial passports: our face can become our identity card.”
How error-prone is this system?
Meow: There’s a shift in decisions for algorithms and we don’t exactly know the error rate. These systems are not very transparent, they use huge amounts of data that we cannot control. It can definitely happen that they get rejected at a border and don’t even know why. During his tenure, Donald Trump pushed for Facebook or Tik Tok data to be part of a reliability rating. Someone who posted things that weren’t appropriate didn’t get a visa. The more digitization increases, the more possibilities there are to limit mobility.