Migration Control Unhinged: The Direction of Externalisation

Abstract

It is evident that externalisation policies mirror stark power asymmetries of the global and regional political orders, and thus reflect social inequalities more generally. What is new about contemporary remote control across borders? An important element is the reference to human rights norms by various political actors such as NGOs, migrant associations but also some national governments, international organisations and an activist judiciary. The contestation around externalized migration control has gone through several periods. Integral to an understanding of control are the practices of migrants themselves, how they seek to circumvent controls and resist. Thinking further ahead, we may conceive of the border as a paradox, involving both connecting and separating humans and artefacts. Such an understanding of border allows for the possibility of coexistence; difference between two or more entities being a requirement. The border does not belong to either side. How to imagine such a type of border between states is a formidable challenge to social theory.