ABSTRACT
In recent years, various regional integration initiatives have promoted free movement frameworks to facilitate the mobility of regional citizens by granting rights of entry, residence, and establishment across member states. These efforts toward internal openness contrast with global trends toward rebordering. However, akin to global dynamics, they face significant spatial conflicts and regress. This chapter examines spatial conflicts related to free movement in three regional integration projects: the European Union (EU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). Using document analysis and stakeholder interviews, it explores borders as conflictual spaces, highlighting tensions that arise over two main conflict lines: security regarding territoriality and border control, as well as economic concerns surrounding the mobility and rights of regional citizens. These conflicts play out in a context of constant power rivalry between the supranational level and member states, as the latter assert national sovereignty in ways that challenge the effective realization of regional free movement. This manifestation of conflictual refiguration thus challenges the notion of a straightforward progression toward intraregional openness and de-bordering.
