Abstract

CARDINALE, María Eugenia. The Border Issue and the Epidemiological Crisis in Europe and South America: A Look from International Relations. rev.relac.int.estrateg.segur. [online]. 2021, vol.16, n.1, pp.177-196.  Epub May 07, 2021. ISSN 1909-3063.  https://doi.org/10.18359/ries.5100.

Given the extraordinary situation produced by the SARS-COV-2 virus pandemic, it is necessary to critically analyze border studies from international relations (IR) as the State and its jurisdiction over the territory have retaken the stage amidst a global epidemiological crisis. Therefore, following the modern international system's old rules, the most immediate reaction and the option considered efficient in such an extreme situation is to close borders. A critical analysis of the literature and the States' urgent measures in the European Union and South America seems relevant to relocate the issue of interstate borders in a world where their role has revived. This article intends to carry out a descriptive and interpretive study on the border issue during the pandemic in the two selected regions. Methodologically, it focuses on critically examining specific bibliography, official discourses, and devices on regional integration and cross-border cooperation. Through the follow-up of press information on the pandemic crisis, these statements are discussed against state measure instrumentalization in response to the global pandemic in the first months of the crisis (February-May 2020). Based on this analysis, we recognize two trends related to IR and the border issue: greater state-centrism and less globalist intensity, thus identifying a re-centralization in the classic IR views on sovereignty and territory.

Keywords : Borders; state-centrism; international system; cross-border cooperation.

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