The Politics of Borders: Sovereignty, Security, and the Citizen after 9/11

Abstract

Ours is a continuously mobile existence. A commercially integrated world necessitates constant movement of people and goods across various frontiers. Now, such a state of affairs complicates the hitherto non-negotiable manifestations of political sovereignty namely, territorial authority and control over entry and exit. Should we modify our traditional characterization of sovereignty? Should we re-examine citizenship? Should we redesign our security paradigm? How far do technological advances influence the flow of traffic across borderlands? These are the questions that Matthew Longo attempts to address in this volume. It is a work of political science that deals with the altered nature of borders and frontiers that has come about in the last 15 years or so, and how that change could affect citizenship and a state's security posturing. Furthermore, the author deconstructs some of the binaries that, according to him, we have been taking for granted. For instance, an us/them binary that is inherent in any border. Speaking of deconstruction, Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida also appearsporadically.