A new global dataset on cross-border roads, paths, railroads, and ferries reveals that borders of very rich and very poor countries have ample cross-border traffic infrastructure, much more so than middle-income countries. Why is this the case? Our new study explores this counterintuitive pattern and potential explanations. From border fortification to cross-border traffic infrastructure Borders […]

Authors:  Lorenzo Piccoli (EUI), Jelena Džankić (EUI), Didier Ruedin (University of Neuchatel), and Timothy Jacob-Owens (EUI and University of Edinburgh). Acknowledgment: This research is a collaboration between GLOBALCIT, the Migration Policy Centre, and the NCCR on the move and is concurrently being posted on these platforms. Every government in the world introduced restrictions to human mobility in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

Most debate on migration policies in Europe pay little attention to the ways that day-to-day practices shape the reality of migration control. The notion of ‘a gap’ typically describes the relationship between migration policies on paper and in practice, implying that something simply goes wrong when policies are put into action. But is that what […]

Introduction At least 37 migrant men died following a collective effort to “crash” the fence separating Morocco from Melilla, one of the two Spanish enclaves in North Africa, on June 24th. The number of casualties is expected to increase, and hundreds of people were reportedly injured. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez stated that the events […]

Since its launch in 2020, the negotiations concerning the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum have remained largely deadlocked. Member States are struggling to find a common agreement on crucial issues, such as the establishment of fairer procedures for the regulation of migration flows in the EU. Failing to come to terms on a […]