The COVID-19 has posed an unprecedented challenge to the global workforce. To better understand the impact of the pandemic on work and careers, I call for research taking a closer look at the ...boundaries in the career context. Specifically, both the micro (boundaries that demarcate role domains) and macro (national borders) boundaries should be considered. The pandemic changes the existing boundaries and challenges the “usual” practices; while it blurs the micro, cross-domain boundaries, it strengthens the macro, cross-country boundaries. I propose that the changes in the micro and macro boundaries are one of the important mechanisms in how COVID-19 affects many individuals' vocational behaviors and career outcomes. In this essay, I explain why we should pay more attention to the boundaries to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on vocational and career behaviors. I conclude with a discussion of several directions for future research.
Abstract Background Travel restrictions and border controls were used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the processes for making robust evidence-based risk assessments of source ...countries to inform border control policies was in many cases very limited. Methods Between April 2020 and February 2022, all international arrivals to New Zealand were required to spend 14 days in government-managed quarantine facilities and were tested at least twice. The infection rates among arrivals in the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 were respectively 6.3, 9.4 and 90.0 cases per thousand arrivals (487, 1064 and 1496 cases). Test results for all arrivals were linked with travel history, providing a large and comprehensive dataset on the number of SARS-CoV-2-positive and negative travellers from different countries over time. We developed a statistical model to predict the country-level infection risk based on infection rates among recent arrivals and reported cases in the country of origin. The model incorporates a country-level random effect to allow for the differences between the infection risk of the population of each country and that of travellers to New Zealand. A time dependent auto-regressive component of the model allows for short term correlation in infection rates. Results A model selection and checking exercise found that the model was robust and reliable for forecasting arrival risk for 2 weeks ahead. We used the model to forecast the number of infected arrivals in future weeks and categorised countries according to their risk level. The model was implemented in R and was used by the New Zealand Ministry of Health to help inform border control policy during 2021. Conclusions A robust and practical forecasting tool was developed for forecasting infection risk among arriving passengers during a period of controlled borders during the COVID-19 pandemic. The model uses historical infection rates among arrivals and current infection rates in the source country to make separate risk predictions for arrivals from each country.
Can state sovereignty justify privileged receiving countries exercising authority over non‐members in a third country to safeguard their own interests? Under the current migration governance of the ...EU, state sovereignty is manifested in migrant interdiction, interception and detention policies employed to prevent unauthorized migrants from reaching the EU, and even from attempting to embark on cross‐Mediterranean journeys. While reinforcement of the Schengen region's external borders is a key aim of the EU's internal migration politics, collaboration with third countries regarding migration control has, in the last decade, become a key feature of its external migration policy. In close collaboration with third countries, the EU has managed to curb the outflux of migrants from transit and sending countries. In effect, irregular migrants are prevented from exiting as well as from entering. This article explores the justifiability of such practices, by questioning commonly invoked models of justification such as the sovereignty “model”, with a special focus on partnership agreements regarding migration control between the EU and Libya.
As a direct response to the migrations of 2015, seven Schengen member states re-introduced border controls at their national borders, with five of them extending these controls continuously since ...then. Citing the impact of migration movements, they invoked the clauses of the Schengen Borders Code (SBC) temporarily allowing for such measures in order to counter exceptional threats. Based on a qualitative analysis of the notifications of the member states in question to the European Commission and its response, we examine how migration and migratory movements have been framed as a security issue in order to legitimise the extension of border controls. Drawing on critical security theory and the different conceptualisations of threat-based and risk-based security, we show that despite the frequent invocation of a frame of threat - as mandated by the SBC -, the underlying rationales for upholding border controls are progressively constructed along a frame of risk. This is consistent with a prevalence of risk-based conceptions of security at the level of the European Union. We conclude that the shift from threat-based rationales to risk-based conceptualisations of security undermine the spirit of the Schengen area as an area of free circulation since they tend to normalize the hitherto exceptional measure of internal border controls.
While there has been growing scholarly interest in the convergence of humanitarianism and security in contemporary EUropean border governance, much of the existing literature has neglected the role ...of human rights in this process. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Frontex officials, this article takes the simultaneous portrayal of the agency as rescuer of migrants at sea, promoter of fundamental rights and defender of EUropean citizens against migrant threats as a starting point to rethink the relationship of humanitarianism, human rights and security in the governing of EUropean borders. Conceptualizing them as discourses of protection that render their subjects vulnerable in various ways, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of the connections and combined effects of humanitarianism, human rights and security in EUropean border governance. Finally, it shows that Frontex’s positioning in humanitarian, human rights and security terms has strengthened the agency in three ways. First, it has allowed Frontex to cooperate with a range of actors in ‘managing’ EUropean borders. Second, it has enabled the agency to become a ‘go-to’ solution to diverse crises in border governance. Third, it has allowed Frontex officials to shift blame for human rights abuses to member-states.
ABSTRACTFollowing the refugee crisis in 2015 and the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the use of internal border controls within the EU expanded considerably. This change seems to be at odds with the ...freedom of movement within the Schengen Area, a cornerstone of European integration. Previous research has been inconclusive as to whether this re-bordering signals a move towards renationalisation and disintegration or if it should be understood as a reconfiguration of European cooperation. This article takes a long-term perspective on the use of internal border controls and compares, through content analysis, the prevalence of renationalisation and European integration themes in member states? notifications of internal border controls from 2006 to 2020. While controls have become more extensive in duration and scope over time, the results show that, contrary to expectations, increased focus on national security was not accompanied by less commitment to European integration in these notifications. Thus, rather than a sign of disintegration, it is argued that internal border controls can be understood as a reconfiguration of the European border regime towards cooperative but defensive integration.
•Biometrics in an airport environment can provide a contactless way of identity verification.•Biometrics confirm the traveller's identity and their entry or exit, with an increased ability to detect ...fraudulent documents and visa overstays.•Biometrics implementation at airports face several challenges ranging from low matching rates to privacy concerns and infrastructure issues.•Recommendations are provided.
Biometrics in an airport environment can provide a contactless way of identity verification. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been trialling and implementing the Biometric Entry Exit Program at U.S. Customs and Border Control (CBP). Using the Traveller Verification System (TVS), the program biometrically confirms the traveller's identity and their entry or exit, with an increased ability to detect fraudulent documents and visa overstays. This paper assesses the Biometric Exit Program to analyse the use of biometrics at airports and identify the challenges faced. An analysis is conducted on the Entry Exit Program at Dublin Airport, including facial recognition boarding gates. Pilot test results from Dublin Airport and other U.S. airports are used to identify challenges. These included a gap in stakeholder support, low biometric matching rate, infrastructure and network connectivity issues, privacy concerns amongst travellers, and heavy reliance on airlines. Recommendations and solutions for advancement are provided.
To standardize control activities, it is necessary to introduce checklists to support the control of consignments entering the European Union through border control posts (BCPs). This study aimed to ...develop a pilot checklist for the control of fishery consignments, preliminarily identified as the predominant group of goods entering the Livorno (Italy) BCP. The design of the pilot checklist was preceded by i) a revision of the current European and national legislation on the general and specific objectives of border control activities on fishery products and ii) a comparative analysis of two checklists (one of the Ministry of Health and one of the former Livorno border inspection post) developed on the basis of the repealed legislation. This comparison aimed to define the pilot checklist structure, verification objectives, and selection of assessment scores to be included in defining consignment compliance and acceptability. Once developed, the clarity and ease of use of the first draft of the pilot checklist were verified through its use in a field test during the control of 64 fishery product consignments. 22 regulatory sources (18 European and 4 national) were selected as reference legislation. The pilot checklist was structured as a dynamic “read-do” document based on the workflow of control activities described in the current legislation. The field test was useful in improving the clarity of the verification objectives within the documentary, identity, and physical control sections and in facilitating the use of the checklist and the collection of evidence during the control activity. This study, which focused on fishery products, can provide a practical approach for the development of checklists for all the other goods categories under the responsibility of BCPs.
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