Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs

Trading goods is an original human activity that precedes borders (Renfrew, 1969). With the rise of nation-states with demarcated political boundaries, trade that crosses borders became regulated by government institutions such as Customs, with tariffs, quotas, or outright prohibitions. While border...

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Main Authors:	Cantens, Thomas, Ireland, Robert, Raballand, Gael
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Taylor and Francis 2016
Subjects:	informal sector customs black market border management regional trade
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23562

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spelling	okr-10986-235622021-04-23T14:04:16Z Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs Cantens, Thomas Ireland, Robert Raballand, Gael informal sector customs black market border management regional trade Trading goods is an original human activity that precedes borders (Renfrew, 1969). With the rise of nation-states with demarcated political boundaries, trade that crosses borders became regulated by government institutions such as Customs, with tariffs, quotas, or outright prohibitions. While borders are perhaps not quite “the dead, the fixed, the undialectical, the immobile” (Foucault, 1970, p. 70), they are a formal structure that places less flexibility on trade activities. Focusing on informality thus provided an opportunity to reflect on the governance of international trade, which has been marked by increasing consolidation of its rules in the last decades. Informal cross-border trade affects the symbolic power of the State, particularly where the State takes one of its more concrete forms, as “the borders.” Indeed, at borders, where commodities flows are regulated, informal trade forces governments to balance or choose between rule avoidance with economic contribution, as well as social relations. This tension between the economic, political and social dimensions of informal trade at borders is reflected in this special issue. 2016-01-05T19:55:03Z 2016-01-05T19:55:03Z 2015-12-16 Journal Article Journal of Borderlands Studies 0886-5655 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23562 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Taylor and Francis Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	informal sector customs black market border management regional trade
spellingShingle	informal sector customs black market border management regional trade Cantens, Thomas Ireland, Robert Raballand, Gael Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs
description	Trading goods is an original human activity that precedes borders (Renfrew, 1969). With the rise of nation-states with demarcated political boundaries, trade that crosses borders became regulated by government institutions such as Customs, with tariffs, quotas, or outright prohibitions. While borders are perhaps not quite “the dead, the fixed, the undialectical, the immobile” (Foucault, 1970, p. 70), they are a formal structure that places less flexibility on trade activities. Focusing on informality thus provided an opportunity to reflect on the governance of international trade, which has been marked by increasing consolidation of its rules in the last decades. Informal cross-border trade affects the symbolic power of the State, particularly where the State takes one of its more concrete forms, as “the borders.” Indeed, at borders, where commodities flows are regulated, informal trade forces governments to balance or choose between rule avoidance with economic contribution, as well as social relations. This tension between the economic, political and social dimensions of informal trade at borders is reflected in this special issue.
format	Journal Article
author	Cantens, Thomas Ireland, Robert Raballand, Gael
author_facet	Cantens, Thomas Ireland, Robert Raballand, Gael
author_sort	Cantens, Thomas
title	Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs
title_short	Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs
title_full	Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs
title_fullStr	Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs
title_full_unstemmed	Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs
title_sort	introduction : borders, informality, international trade and customs
publisher	Taylor and Francis
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23562
_version_	1764454314637524992

Introduction : Borders, Informality, International Trade and Customs

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