From freedom of movement to disintegration? A Typology of Internal Border Regimes of the European Union

Following recent developments of the management of EU’s internal borders, with the increased and extensive use of internal border controls as a tool to manage issues as diverse as migration and the Covid-19 pandemic, there is urgent need understand what kind of internal border regime that is being developed in the EU. Are we seeing a ‘new normal’ of more controls at the internal borders? Previous research has offered primarily two ways to understand this development: as a question of disintegration and renationalization, or as a reconfiguration of Europe’s internal borders, leading to more integration on the issue of border management. After reviewing current theories on European integration of border management, the present article proposes a typology of internal border regimes. Using a conceptualizations of border regimes that include its function, mode of governance, and degree of openness, the present study develops a typology that can be used to identify the kind of border regime that is being created at the internal borders if the EU. The border regime concept is useful as it allows an analysis of the relation or tension between different objectives of openness and control in legislation and implementation of border policy, rather than seeing border policy as a question of either openness or control.