implementing. The European Union is not an autocrat with an iron fist whose
members are forced to obey against their will – it is an institution comprised of
nation-states, and their values. The ways in which globalisation, through the
support given by supra-national institutions to a variety of policies,
infrastructure projects and forces, has contributed to a more securitised,
rigorous migration and asylum system, has meant that increased
interconnection of the world has not undermined the ability of nation-states to
control their borders, a significant area of national policy.
Regulating migration and asylum is not the only route through which
borders have been strengthened. As the place of seaborne shipping in the global
trade sector has grown significantly in the past fifty years, with the level of
seaborne goods increasing from 2.5 billion tons in 1970 to 10.7 billion tons as of
2017 (UNCTD, 2018, p.5), the protection of these goods has, as in the case of
migration, come to be viewed as a national security priority by many countries.
The modern international shipping structure is an archetypal feature of
globalisation; the ability of goods to move so easily across oceans contributes
largely to the feeling of decreased distance typical of the era. However, the
bigger impact modern shipping structures have in a globalised world falls at the
seat of nation-states, with the procedures surrounding shipping allowing for an
extension of national borders beyond physical territorial boundaries. Around
70% of goods by value are shipped by sea (UNTCD, 2022, p.153), making
protection of these goods, and the process of their transport, vital for the
economies of many countries. The prioritisation of economic flows has become
even more vital with neoliberalism as the foundational ideology of globalisation
(Cowen, 2014, p.55). The increased securitisation of shipping occurred in
tandem with the securitisation of migration and all movement of peoples; as a
response to 9/11 – a more inter-connected world has also allowed for an
61
Made with FlippingBook HTML5