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Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) Paperback – May 15, 2009
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The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, the longest and most dramatic meeting point of a rich and poor country, and the site of intense confrontation between law enforcement and law evasion. Border control has changed in recent years from a low-maintenance and politically marginal activity to an intensive campaign focusing on drugs and migrant labor. Yet the unprecedented buildup of border policing has taken place in an era otherwise defined by the opening of the border, most notably through NAFTA. This contrast creates a borderless economy with a barricaded border.
In the updated and expanded second edition of his essential book on policing the U.S.-Mexico border, Peter Andreas places the continued sharp escalation of border policing in the context of a transformed post-September 11 security environment. As Andreas demonstrates, in some ways it is still the same old border game but more difficult to manage, with more players, played out on a bigger stage, and with higher stakes and collateral damage.
- Print length200 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherCornell University Press
- Publication dateMay 15, 2009
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions6.12 x 0.5 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-100801475406
- ISBN-13978-0801475405
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Border Games provides an in-depth and comparative analysis of the border policies.... Required reading for anyone with an interest in U.S.-Mexico relations and the American West.
-- Jeff Biggers ― The Bloomsbury ReviewAn engaging and readable book.... This slim volume is recommended for all levels.
― ChoiceAt a time when economic globalization is seen opening borders throughout the world, the boundary enforcement has intensified along the longest border between a rich and poor country, the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Andreas offers a broad overview of smuggling immigrants and drugs into the U.S. from Mexico and intensified enforcement efforts. On a broader scale, Andreas looks at international trends in smuggling and border enforcement in Europe.
― BooklistThe difficulty in policing a complex border like that between the United States and Mexico, specifically stemming the flow of illegal drugs and immigration, demonstrates, according to Peter Andreas's insightful and pathbreaking analysis, the challenge associated with globalization, diminished sovereignty, and economic integration between developed and developing countries.... Andreas's insightful and rigorous study is an important contribution to the literature on globalization and transnational illicit trade.
-- Frank O. Mora ― American Political Science ReviewThis outstanding book is a much-needed addition to the literature on the policing of international boundaries. Because it is so well written and concise, it fits beautifully into political geography curricula at the undergraduate as well as at the graduate level. Hopefully the book will inspire geographers to take up questions similar to those that Peter Andreas has so capably interrogated.
-- Joseph Nevins ― The Professional GeographerReview
With analytical skill, political savvy, empirical rigor, comparative insight and a keen sense of paradox, Peter Andreas explores a fascinating aspect of U.S. relations with Mexico today: that while state control of legal trade has been greatly relaxed and the border opened, there has been a simultaneous effort to make the border seem more closed to illegal flows of narcotics and people.
-- Abraham F. Lowenthal, University of Southern California (reviewing the first edition)About the Author
Peter Andreas is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Blue Helmets and Black Markets, also from Cornell, coauthor of Drug War Politics and Policing the Globe, and the coeditor of The Rebordering of North America and The Wall Around the West.
Product details
- Publisher : Cornell University Press; 2nd edition (May 15, 2009)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 200 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0801475406
- ISBN-13 : 978-0801475405
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.12 x 0.5 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,476,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,064 in Law Enforcement (Books)
- #2,497 in Law Enforcement Politics
- #8,047 in Criminology (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2017Great book. Especially when in contrast to current rhetoric and actual facts of the past.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2018Border security & the "drug war" are interrelated big government jobs programs, both built on a house of cards. Don't believe me? Read the book (#MakeReadingGreatAgain).
- Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2014Excellent condition. Really good book on life along the U.S. southern border.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2010This is a very good book in many regards, BUT there has been no effort to update any of the material other than a so so chapter added to the end. The book is full of statements like, "It is expected that in 2001 there will be..." If you want a good analytical discussion of the border in the 1990's this is your book. If you are looking for something current, try something else.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2009This book really gives a different view to the policing on the Mexican Border and how the United States has evoked many of the events that lead to the consequences we are now dealing with. The author has many resources and is very credited.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2010I received the book, Border Games, in excellent condition and in a timely fashion. I would highly recommend this seller.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2005What the heck is our Congress thinking of???? This book clearly lays out how easy it will be for terrorist to get us by easily crossing the border at will. Why is this still so??? If you like this book you should also read, "U.S. Customs, Badge of Dishonor" another narrative of our Government's border blunders.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2015Great Product will buy again.

