The Forms of Outsourcing Borders in the City of Melilla: From Elementary to Complex Forms

Abstract

In a series of studies on the issue of borders in the city of Melilla, we have noted a number of observations on the outsourcing of border control. It is a historical and social process, historical in the sense that it is constructed over time, and social in the sense that it is the work of border entrepreneurs, and thus affects local social life. This study is carried out in the city of Melilla at the level of the border to the city of Melilla, and through which the following hypothesis is put forward: the security dimension at the level of the border is not new, while the forms that shape the latter are constantly being renewed; moving from simple to complex forms of externalisation of border control. In this evolving perspective, a sociological approach will be adopted to answer the following questions: What were the main forms of border security that governed the city of Melilla at the end of the 19th century? What are the new means used by the European Union to protect the external border with Morocco? What are the effects of border outsourcing in Melilla on local social life?