Rethinking Borders

The condition of borders has been crucial to many recent exhibitions, conferences and publications. But there does not yet exist a convincing critical frame for the discussion of border discourses. Rethinking Borders offers just such an introduction. It develops important contexts in art and architectural theory, contemporary film-making, criticism and cultural politics, for the proliferation of 'border theories' and 'border practices' that have marked a new stage in the debates over postmodernism, cultural studies and postcolonialism.

An inspiring reconception of the India-China border as a space for the fluid exchange of culture, trade, and government

This volume provides information and analyses to better grasp the social implications of geographical borders as well as the individuals who travel between them and those who live in border regions. Sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, linguists, and scholars of international relations and public health are just some of the authors contributing to Rethinking Borders. The diversity in the authors’ disciplines and the topics they focus on exemplify the intricacies of borders and their manifold effects. This openness to so many schools of thought stands in contrast to the solidification of stricter borders across the globe. The contributions range from case studies of migrants’ sense of belonging and safety to theoretical discussions about migration and globalization, from empirical studies about immigrant practices and exclusionary laws to ethical concerns about the benefits of inclusion. It is timely that this collective work is published in the middle of a pandemic that has affected every single part of the world. Unprecedented border closures and stringent travel restrictions have not been enough to contain the virus entirely. As COVID-19 shows, diseases, ideas, and xenophobic and racist discourses know no borders. Plans that transcend borders are vital when dealing with global threats, such as climate change and pandemics.

Aims to provide a guide for peacemaking at the territorial borders of the nation state Employs an innovative 'preferred futures' methodology Will be of interest to students of border studies, migration studies, peace studies, critical security and IR

While sovereignty is increasingly contested within academic circles, most recent military conflicts have been over issues of sovereignty in some form. Focusing on Yugoslavia in the 1990s, this book explores the issues surrounding 'sovereignty' and calls for a radical rethinking of the notion and the institutions and practices that it grounds.

A timely and provocative challenge to the foundations of our global order: why should national borders be unchangeable? The inviolability of national borders is an unquestioned pillar of the post–World War II international order. Fixed borders are believed to encourage stability, promote pluralism, and discourage nationalism and intolerance. But do they? What if fixed borders create more problems than they solve, and what if permitting borders to change would create more stability and produce more just societies? Legal scholar Timothy Waters examines this possibility, showing how we arrived at a system of rigidly bordered states and how the real danger to peace is not the desire of people to form new states but the capacity of existing states to resist that desire, even with violence. He proposes a practical, democratically legitimate alternative: a right of secession. With crises ongoing in the United Kingdom, Spain, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and many other regions, this reassessment of the foundations of our international order is more relevant than ever.

This book provides a new point of departure for thinking critically and creatively about international borders and the perceived need to defend them, adopting an innovative ‘preferred future’ methodology. The authors critically examine a range of ‘border domains’ including law, citizenship, governance, morality, security, economy, culture and civil society, which provide the means and justification for contemporary border controls, and identify early signs that the dynamics of sovereignty and borders are being fundamentally transformed under conditions of neoliberal globalization. The goal is to locate potential pathways towards the preferred future of relaxed borders, and provide a foundation for a progressive politics dedicated to moving beyond mere critique of the harm and inequity of border controls and capable of envisaging a differently bordered world. This book will be of considerable interest to students of border studies, migration, criminology, peacemaking, critical security studies and IR in general.

This volume provides information and analyses to better grasp the social implications of geographical borders as well as the individuals who travel between them and those who live in border regions. Sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, linguists, and scholars of international relations and public health are just some of the authors contributing to Rethinking Borders. The diversity in the authors' disciplines and the topics they focus on exemplify the intricacies of borders and their manifold effects. This openness to so many schools of thought stands in contrast to the solidification of stricter borders across the globe. The contributions range from case studies of migrants' sense of belonging and safety to theoretical discussions about migration and globalization, from empirical studies about immigrant practices and exclusionary laws to ethical concerns about the benefits of inclusion. It is timely that this collective work is published in the middle of a pandemic that has affected every single part of the world. Unprecedented border closures and stringent travel restrictions have not been enough to contain the virus entirely. As COVID-19 shows, diseases, ideas, and xenophobic and racist discourses know no borders. Plans that transcend borders are vital when dealing with global threats, such as climate change and pandemics.