Saturday, August 22, 2009

Crossing Borders

Source: http://www.ingentaconnect.com

Radu, Cosmin. Border tricksters and the predatory state: Contraband at the Romania-Serbia border during the Yugoslavian embargoes. Focaal, 2009, Number 54, 49-63.


Abstract: This article analyzes actions of the Romanian state officials and the Romania-Serbia border region people during the embargoes imposed on Yugoslavia in the 1990s. It shows that the embargo-related contraband trade with its diverse layers and actors is an excellent window for studying state formations. Getting involved in both big contraband and the criminalization of smugglers, different state factions developed specific logics of privatization, transnationalization, and interstitial relations. These developments were connected to both the fantasies of accumulation in the context of embargo and Romanian European Union accession. The article also suggests how to understand continuities between the embargorelated and present state formations. Looking at the interplays among border posts, state officials, and the EU, it shows that the border posts are increasingly dislocated from the state and that they seem to become interstitial parts of a post-state field of power.

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