Nixon’s War on Drugs and the Rise of Virtual Border Enforcement in the United States
Keywords:
US–Mexico Border, Digital Surveillance, Securitisation Theory, War on Drugs, Nixon AdministrationAbstract
This paper investigates the evolution of the United States–Mexico border from a historically symbolic boundary into one of the most fortified and technologically advanced frontiers in the world. Initial symbolic physical demarcations placed along the border, served to formalise the division between the two nations. However, recent decades have witnessed a significant transformation in border enforcement practices, characterised by the integration of digital surveillance mechanisms that strengthen traditional physical barriers. This study addresses this phenomenon by exploring the nexus between Nixon’s War on Drugs and the digitalisation of the US–Mexico border during the Nixon Administration (1969–1974). By conceptualising the drug crisis as an existential threat, President Nixon’s rhetoric framed these substances as the “enemy number one” starting his War on Drugs. This shaped a securitisation process that enabled the allocation of extraordinary resources to counter this new perceived menace. By employing the securitisation theory developed by the Copenhagen School, this paper analyses the role played by Nixon in framing the security threat to elucidate how this discourse justified the creation of virtual border control practices in the United States. The findings suggest that the securitisation of the drug crisis provided the necessary political and ideological foundation for adopting innovative digital surveillance technologies, a process that has since transformed border enforcement practices. This inquiry contributes to the academic debate on border digitalisation and offers a methodological framework for comparative studies on the virtual evolution of national boundaries.
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