Contrabbandieri, banditi e guardiani

L’articolo si propone di analizzare il processo di costruzione del confine tra Messico e Stati Uniti attraverso la lente del contrabbando, considerato il doppio filo di unione e divisione che ancora oggi determina le relazioni tra i due paesi dell’America del Nord. Il periodo considerato è quello tra il 1821, anno in cui il Messico conquistò l’indipendenza dalla Spagna, ed il 1924, quando, con la creazione della Border Patrol, l’infrastruttura di controllo del confine acquisì la forma che, mantiene tutt’ora, sebbene in scala maggiore. Nel mezzo secolo trascorso tra le travagliate vicende della guerra del 1846-1848 contro gli Stati Uniti ed il 1910, anno che sancì la fine del regime di Porfirio Díaz, si diede quel processo che portò alla definizione e al consolidamento di quella “linea sulla sabbia” che sancì la cessione al vicino del nord di un terzo del territorio messicano.This article focuses on the Mexico-United States border creation between 1821, year of the Mexican independence from Spain, and 1924, when the establishment of the Border Patrol shaped the current border control structure. This process will be analysed through the lens of smuggling, considering both the thread of union and separation that still determines the relations between the two countries. In particular, during the 50 years between the war against the United States (1846-1848) and the end of Porfírio Diaz’s regime in 1910, two simultaneous trends developed: on one side, the border crystallized, resulting in the consolidation of the flimsy “line of sand”, on the other side, a counter movement split the two national sovereignties , claiming their respective territories. Smuggling was the very first, fundamental human behaviour marking the border, paradoxically by challenging it

Contrabbandieri, banditi e guardiani: Le vie del traffico illecito nella costruzione del confine tra Messico e Stati Uniti

L´articolo si propone di analizzare il processo di costruzione del confine tra Messico e Stati Uniti attraverso la lente del contrabbando, considerato il doppio filo di unione e divisione che ancora oggi determina le relazioni tra i due paesi dell´America del Nord. Il periodo considerato è quello tra il 1821, anno in cui il Messico conquistò l´indipendenza dalla Spagna, ed il 1924, quando, con la creazione della Border Patrol, l´infrastruttura di controllo del confine acquisì la forma che, mantiene tutt´ora, sebbene in scala. Nel mezzo secolo trascorso tra le travagliate vicende della guerra del 1846-1848 contro gli Stati Uniti ed il 1910, anno che sancì la fine del regime di Porfirio Díaz, si diede quel processo che portò alla definizione e al consolidamento di quella "linea sulla sabbia" che sancì la cessione al vicino del nord di un terzo del territorio messicano

How do we get everybody at the table? Enhancing diversity in multi-stakeholder processes for landscape restoration.

Global ecosystem degradation challenging ecological and social thresholds demands urgent responses that address systemically the complex interrelationships between humans and nature. To improve the adaptive capacity of the social systems and strengthen its resilience to respond to external challenges affecting landscapes, multi-stakeholder approaches for landscape restoration involving diverse actors expressing different perspectives are important. While historically absent groups are recognised as the actors that, when meaningfully engaged, achieve transformational change, the literature is unclear on how this is achieved.This research aims to better understand the particular elements that enhance and limit the ability to establish a diverse range of participants within multi-stakeholder processes for landscape restoration. Using semi-structured interviews with practitioners with relevant experience in engaging historically absent groups, we found that including diversity is an iterative process of forming a microcosm as a complex, adaptive system representing the wider landscape through building on synergies and filling the gaps. A wide range of specific strategies exist to address concrete and structural obstacles hindering participation. Moreover, the specific role of the facilitator, their intangible skills that allow them to be capable of self- awareness, deep reflection and listening, are a key leverage point to navigate the complexity around many systemic obstacles preventing actors on the edge of systems from participating

How do we get everybody at the table? Enhancing diversity in multi-stakeholder processes for landscape restoration.

Global ecosystem degradation challenging ecological and social thresholds demands urgent responses that address systemically the complex interrelationships between humans and nature. To improve the adaptive capacity of the social systems and strengthen its resilience to respond to external challenges affecting landscapes, multi-stakeholder approaches for landscape restoration involving diverse actors expressing different perspectives are important. While historically absent groups are recognised as the actors that, when meaningfully engaged, achieve transformational change, the literature is unclear on how this is achieved.This research aims to better understand the particular elements that enhance and limit the ability to establish a diverse range of participants within multi-stakeholder processes for landscape restoration. Using semi-structured interviews with practitioners with relevant experience in engaging historically absent groups, we found that including diversity is an iterative process of forming a microcosm as a complex, adaptive system representing the wider landscape through building on synergies and filling the gaps. A wide range of specific strategies exist to address concrete and structural obstacles hindering participation. Moreover, the specific role of the facilitator, their intangible skills that allow them to be capable of self- awareness, deep reflection and listening, are a key leverage point to navigate the complexity around many systemic obstacles preventing actors on the edge of systems from participating

Contrabbandieri, banditi e guardiani. Le vie del traffico illecito nella costruzione del confine tra Messico e Stati Uniti

This article focuses on the Mexico-United States border creation between 1821, year of the Mexican independence from Spain, and 1924, when the establishment of the Border Patrol shaped the current border control structure. This process will be analysed through the lens of smuggling, considering both the thread of union and separation that still determines the relations between the two countries. In particular, during the 50 years between the war against the United States (1846-1848) and the end of Porfírio Diaz’s regime in 1910, two simultaneous trends developed: on one side, the border crystallized, resulting in the consolidation of the flimsy “line of sand”, on the other side, a counter movement split the two national sovereignties , claiming their respective territories. Smuggling was the very first, fundamental human behaviour marking the border, paradoxically by challenging it