Transit States and the Thickening of Borders

This chapter treats North Africa, known in Arabic as the Maghreb. The chapter focuses on Morocco as a way of illuminating the role of transit states situated “in-between” sending and receiving dynamics. Admittedly, “transit state” is a bit of a misnomer, as migrants are more often blocked and not really in transit. Nonetheless, the label as “host country” or “country of immigration” does not work either; the new population does not comprise immigrants who are seeking to settle, as is the case in advanced-industrialized economies. Chapter 4 treats the politics of CIM within a transit state and the ways in which CIM is used to “reborder” a country, cement territorial claims, and control the national space. CIM is also used by transit states as a bargaining chip to enhance the status of their own emigrants—both legal and undocumented—living in North Atlantic countries. Finally, chapter 4 treats the ways in which CIM enhances collaboration between North Atlantic and transit state officials and facilitates the elaboration of a transnational security state—that is, the internationalization of security apparatuses and interior ministries.