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| 1 |
ID:
189362
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| Summary/Abstract |
Scholarship on resource frontiers has often privileged moments of discovery and sites of spectacular infrastructure and extraction. Yet smallholders can alter socio-ecological landscapes in ways that structure spatial and political possibilities even after resource rushes wane. In this paper, I draw on ethnographic research to illustrate how agrarian frontier histories shape contemporary ethnic and territorial boundary-making. In Kalay Valley, activists drew on the colonial principle of ethnic separation and aligned with a national turn towards territorialisation to successfully advocate for restoring the colonial boundary. But efforts at demarcation contrasted with historical practices of cultivating ambiguity on the rice frontier, spurring new forms of border work. I argue, first, that this case demonstrates a change in how land is governed in Myanmar – from a regime of cultivated ambiguity, towards one of negotiated delineation – and, second, that it underscores the need for greater attention to the ways in which agrarian frontier practices shape racialized territorialisation.
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| 2 |
ID:
189372
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| Summary/Abstract |
Predominant approaches in the rebel governance literature have looked at control over the means of violence as a prerogative of rebel-rulers, or armed/non-armed actors, somehow deterministically linked to territory. Here weapons have been understood as either autonomous technical-factors or as analytically invisible objects instrumental to human agencies and interactions aiming to territorial control. This paper challenges understandings of control over the means of violence as a central property radiating outwardly through hierarchically and geographically ordered spatial containers. It argues that the means of violence are relational networks among heterogeneous human-non-human entities – e.g. weapons, stockpiles, militarised architectures, forms, armed individuals/groups – that generate territory. These networks are controlled and stabilised via diffused techniques and rationalities of control. Drawing on the study of Ta’ang areas of Northern Shan State – among the few in Myanmar where well-established rebel movements have experienced official disarmament and later undertook a full-fledged re-armament – I find that controlling the means of violence occurs via turbulent combinations of technical objects, techniques and rationalities that relate to four main domains: narcotics eradication; institutionalisation; ethnonationality; and humanitarian security. Processes and practices through which attempts to control the means of violence are made entail alternative strategies to re-generate spatial organisational control and shape multiple shifting territories. Empirically exploring a highly under-researched case, the paper provides a view of the diffused character of controlling the means of violence and its mutually constitutive relations with territory, while illuminating also the role of weapons, other technical objects, and techniques.
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| 3 |
ID:
189377
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| Summary/Abstract |
An entire subdiscipline of critical toponymy has developed over the past decades to produce theoretically informed approaches to the study of place-naming, in general, and street-naming, in particular. Among other things, research has focused on the colonial politics of street-naming; renaming of streets after a regime change; and the social justice of street-naming. What has not been documented and discussed in detail, however, is street-naming in terms of interstate geopolitics and diplomacy. In light of this omission, the current paper analyses street-naming as a form of diplomatic gift-giving and an element of geopolitical representations. Drawing on the Turkish capital city of Ankara as a case study, our assemblage analysis shows that street-naming as a form of diplomatic gift-giving has multiple underlying intentions, from strengthening existing ties to recognising shared historical, cultural, ethnic and religious narratives. Street names can also be unwanted gifts to punish or shame other countries for breaking alliances or opposing the ruling regime’s policies. As a form of ritual exchange, street-naming is highly choreographed and may include the obligation to reciprocate the gift. We end the article by suggesting new angles on, and directions for, critical toponymy and diplomacy research.
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| 4 |
ID:
189367
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This paper examines and theorises sociability–‘the play-form of association’–in diplomatic settings. I highlight the workings of sociable interaction in diplomacy and I explain how we can better discern its broader role in bureaucratic processes. Empirically, I use virtual diplomacy during the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate the difference that in-person sociability makes in diplomatic practice. The second half of the paper title references a comment by Michael Clauss, Germany’s ambassador to the European Union. Asked about virtual diplomacy, Clauss said that Zoom diplomacy is ‘20% as effective’ as the in-person kind. Conceptually, I use contemporary political geography and international relations as well as two thinkers of earlier decades–sociologists Georg Simmel and Erving Goffman–to theorise sociability. Methodologically, I advocate a more playful approach to sources in our study of professional practice. My objective is to prompt further study of sociability in bureaucratic settings.
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| 5 |
ID:
189369
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| Summary/Abstract |
As the Central and Eastern European (CEE) states undergo a populist-nationalist revival, perhaps the most perplexing phenomenon has been the vibrancy of subregional cooperation initiatives. The Three Seas Initiative (TSI) is the most recent platform to join the list. While it is still too early to deliver a verdict on the effect this initiative will have on the future of European integration, it is indisputable that it marks a shift in the dynamics of European subregionalism. Namely, some of the states that are spearheading and supporting the initiative seem to be openly contesting European unity, which runs counter to the previous initiatives that were formed in support of further EU integration. This article analyses CEE’s standing within the EU in the context of TSI and argues that both rationalist and normative foundations of the most recent wave of subregionalism have significantly changed compared to the previous instances of subregional cooperation.
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| 6 |
ID:
189371
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This article explores vulnerability assessments as practices of filtering, caring and border enforcement. Following the EU-Turkish Agreement which came to force March 2016, migrants crossing from the Turkish coast onto the Greek Aegean islands are subject to a set of administrative procedures which assess the country responsible for processing their asylum claim. As I demonstrate their chances of accessing the asylum process or risk being returned to Turkey are shaped by the outcome of vulnerability assessments. Drawing together feminist approaches on vulnerability and geopolitics with recent work that addresses hotspots and the humanitarian border, the article suggest that vulnerability assessments are is crucial for understanding the ways in which state strategies to discourage mobility are woven into protection practices and the ways in which exclusions are authorised through the strategic deployment of vulnerability. The study is based on fieldwork and interviews conducted on the island of Lesbos during three separate periods between the summer of 2017 and December 2018. By interrogating processes of documentation and the role of state and non-state actors in the operationalising vulnerability, I demonstrate how mobile bodies are governed through vulnerability, medical knowledge and trauma. As a result, vulnerability assessments privilege certain, often gendered mobilities as opposed to others while in parallel contribute to enhancing a mode of care and control at the border that justifies the perpetuation of forms of violence.
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| 7 |
ID:
189376
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| Summary/Abstract |
The paper reviews the concept of ontological (in)security as an analytical tool to shed light on (dis)continuous narratives of selfhood engendered by geopolitics. It contributes to a growing body of empirically grounded research by addressing the necessity of a multi-dimensional understanding of individuals’ senses of ontological (in)security. The paper is based on qualitative research conducted in Berlin with participants of various age groups and argues that ontological security and insecurity are negotiated through spatial and temporal means. It demonstrates that geopolitical caesuras, as powerful intergenerational geographical imaginations, function as time-space anchors of ontological (in)security. It further studies this multi-dimensionality by conceptualising temporal and spatial means of ontological (in)security and their relational interconnectedness to unsettle the binaries of global and local, and past and present. Finally, this paper recommends reconsidering the usage of ontological (in)security as an analytical tool to mobilise a feminist approach towards geopolitics.
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| 8 |
ID:
189375
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article explores how the geopolitical rivalries and tensions associated with multipolarity in a transitional international order, driven by shifts in great power influence, are shaping the international politics of state recognition. It considers the diplomatic discourse and practices of traditional great powers and resurgent states in relation to a number of controversial cases of territories seeking independent statehood and recognition. Although contested claims for sovereign statehood and recognition predate the current great power constellation, we find that contemporary state recognition practices offer dominant powers grounds for normative and geopolitical contestation with their rivals. Whilst this is a reflection of the historical continuities of great power politics, the article shows that the transitional international order, and the friction this generates, has further fragmented the norms and practices of state recognition. At the same time, there has not been a broad upheaval in the politics of state recognition because most states maintain a conservative attitude to state creation. The article contributes to contemporary debates on statehood and recognition by revealing how the political and normative friction associated with the changing international order make the possibility of a rigorous, rules-based regime for regulating international recognition more remote than ever.
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| 9 |
ID:
189363
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| Summary/Abstract |
In 2011, Burma/Myanmar one-sidedly halted the billions-worth construction of Myitsone Dam, derailing China’s then-largest-ever hydroelectric project abroad and creating a lasting controversy in China–Burma relations. This decision followed an unprecedented public outcry in Burma and a decade of inter-ethnic resistance against this mega-project. This article explores how, throughout the Myitsone Dam controversy, actors at different scales and in three national societies speculated about hidden hostile inter-national plots behind the project or the resistance. Drawing on more than two years of ethnographic fieldwork in 2010–2019, interviews, and media analysis, this article takes seriously many Chinese, Burmese, and Kachin voices – from ambassadors and journalists, to activists and village elders – who claim or dispute various hidden hostile inter-national strategies. The Myitsone case shows how deeply inter-national speculating shapes Burma, often in ways that erase ethnic-minority actors, popular movements, or dispossession. More broadly, it shows how nationalist thinking and competing nationalisms can shape ideas about a frontier of resource extraction. Finally, ethnographic research has often revealed how marginalised people’s conspiratorial narratives can reflect realities, but this study suggests using ethnography to let people challenge dominant conspiracy theories about themselves. Researchers across ethnographic disciplines, International Relations, and critical geopolitics face the analytical and ethical challenge of both contextualising and evaluating any people’s claim that someone plots against them.
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| 10 |
ID:
189373
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper examines the socio-economic and geopolitical outcomes associated with infrastructure development across multiple scales. Starting from the premise that planetary socio-technical transformations in this vein have distinctly national drivers, we focus on the urban agency of Chinese-led investment. The paper explores how different forms of infrastructural development generated by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) affects transformations in the political and material fabric of cities and their host regions. We approach BRI-related infrastructural practice through three interconnected optics – discourse, instruments, and politics – so as to interrogate the articulation of projects linked to the BRI within the material site of the urban. Based on theorisations of infrastructure from an urban perspective and a critical review of literature on the BRI itself, we develop three illustrative case studies at different spatial scales and within different geographic contexts – in Pakistan, Central Europe and the UK. To examine the cases as well as their embeddedness in broader debates on the topic, we use a systematic review methodology relying on a wide variety of sources. We offer comparative and relational perspectives on the manner in which these relatively diverse cases demonstrate China’s role as a global urban actor.
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| 11 |
ID:
189368
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| Summary/Abstract |
Since the break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatia and Serbia have emerged as nationalist states that serve the political interests of ethnic Croats and Serbs, respectively. Despite these regime shifts, historical communities of Croatian Serbs and Serbian Croats still remain within these states. This paper sheds light on the experiences of these minority groups who embody ideological threats to their regimes’ nationalist goals. I argue that Serbs in Croatia are heavily marginalised by dominant political narratives that have cast them to bear the brunt of the state’s post-war grievances. As a result, they experience institutional discrimination that limits their range of economic and social opportunities. Conversely, Croats in Serbia face less explicit prejudice, though post-war stigmas have pushed many to redefine their ethnic affiliations. Both minority groups are experiencing a steady population decline as the rise in nationalist rhetoric has dissolved their rootedness to these territories. This paper examines a majority-minority dynamic in the context of the literature on modern ‘ethnocratic’ states and presents a case study for how ethnic minorities navigate through social prejudices and find ways to negotiate access to participation in everyday society, given the structural exclusion from institutions they face as communities deemed hostile by their state.
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| 12 |
ID:
189364
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| Summary/Abstract |
In this article, I examine the relationship between state, ethnicity, territoriality and neoliberal capitalism in the tribal areas of highland Northeast India, where I focus in particular on the socioecological and socio-political corollaries of its rediscovery as a resource and capitalist frontier. In so doing, I apply (capitalist) ‘desire’ and (ethnic) ‘closure’ as key analytics to capture the contentiously unfolding history of the region’s present. This article shows how new resource and capital flows lead both to the production of capitalist ‘desires’ and socioecological destruction through the privatization, acquisition and depletion, mostly by ethnic tribal elites, of communal assets now embedded in newly capitalist relations, and to the intensification of a politics of exclusive ethnoterritorial belonging and rights. The latter comes in the form of volatile social processes of ethnic ‘closure’; an increasing preoccupation, that is, on part of tribal ethnic communities with the protecting, patrolling and legislating of ethno-territorial rights. The upshot of this is a dialectic between new neoliberal connectivities and ethnic ‘closure’, one that ensues in a frame of the specifics of governance and law in highland Northeast India.
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| 13 |
ID:
189374
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| Summary/Abstract |
Temporary protection is increasingly presented as a ‘novel approach’ to displaced people that have crossed an international border as it can provide a level of protection and access to basic social services for a defined time period. This paper calls into question the objectives of such measures by highlighting the geopolitical context in which they operate. We argue that while temporary arrangements, particularly in so-called ‘transit’ countries, may address humanitarian needs of displaced people, they also embed precarity and temporality into protection norms. Combined with polices that externalise migration management, they risk normalising the exclusion of individuals from avenues to permanent protection in a country that they feel safe. By analysing the potential implications of holding temporary status, with recipients’ well-being and permanent status application in mind, an alternative lens is provided. Using examples of temporary protection mechanisms in Turkey and Mexico, we argue that a deeper critical assessment is needed to understand their impact for people.
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| 14 |
ID:
189370
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article examines geopolitical responses to postcolonial films on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Maghrebi-French films Days of Glory (French: Indigenes) (2006), Outside the Law (French: Hors la loi) (2010) and Free Men (French: Les hommes libres) (2011) collectively re-tell Algerian histories of resistance and anti-colonialism in the Second World War and the Algerian War of Independence, using Hollywood combat and gangster genre to do so. This paper finds that the specific temporal and spatial narratives of (post)colonial France and Algeria are transformed and read geopolitically as allegories of more familiar conflict, namely the War on Terror, the Arab Spring and Israel-Palestine. Drawing on the fields of postcolonial theory and popular geopolitics, this article extends the scope of popular geopolitics to consider postcolonial film and its reception as a site of geopolitical contestation. In doing so, this article highlights how the reception of ‘foreign-language’ postcolonial stories in the Anglosphere is mediated by popular geopolitical frames of reference, and is dependent on the context of reception and (post)colonial power relations.
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| 15 |
ID:
189365
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| Summary/Abstract |
Myanmar’s systematic dispossession of religious and ethnic minorities is well-documented as a tool for counterinsurgency through territorialisation. However, the specific contours of the relationship between minorities, territorialisation, and urban dispossession remain underexplored. The article argues that legislative changes linking identity, property, and belonging led to widescale invisible dispossession of minorities, through the mechanisms of law, citizenship and bureaucracy. Such dispossession gave birth to multiple urban frontiers – temporal spaces that break down existing property relations and create new ones through territorialisation. This article explores one such moment in Myanmar’s largest city and former capital, Yangon, through the lens of Islamic pious endowments, or waqf. By positioning Yangon’s post-1988 landscape as an urban frontier, the article shows how legislative changes serve to actively create frontiers in urban centres through legal dispossession and the transformation of property relations. The article develops the concept of the urban frontier as inextricably tied to territorialisation and dispossession, positing that a frontier, as a spatialized moment in time, can exist at geographical centres as well as peripheries.
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| 16 |
ID:
189378
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The article explores the use and misuse of population registers in Italy. These are statistical and administrative tools historically introduced to monitor the territory and the people who live in it. Currently, however, they are often used as devices for selecting the “deserving” members of the local community by municipal authorities which decide, albeit illegitimately, to tighten the requirements for registration. Municipalities which act in this way pervert the function of registers and establish a special kind of border, an administrative border that excludes individuals from status and rights. By analysing how registration is used as a border in Italy, this article aims to contribute to critical border studies and the debate on urban borders. Registration is framed as a membership status which shapes and designs the population as it produces administrative invisibilisation, increases civic stratification and fosters differential inclusion. By denying enrolment in population registers, a precarisation of local membership is obtained. This causes not only symbolic but also material exclusion, preventing those who are not registered from exercising their rights and, in some cases, putting them at risk of being deported.
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| 17 |
ID:
189360
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| Summary/Abstract |
Myanmar, a nation situated between India, China and Southeast Asia, has long histories of colonialism, violence, and resource extraction. This special issue introduction, written in the midst of Myanmar’s 2021 military coup and the COVID-19 pandemic, offers two critical and feminist interventions – ‘remaking’ and ‘living with’ – to understand the contested and embodied political geographies of extractive resource frontiers in Myanmar. ‘Remaking’ focuses on the long roots of resource frontiers, underscoring the historical and spatial processes through which Myanmar’s plural authorities have restructured diverse territories for accumulation and extraction from the pre-colonial period to the recent ‘democratic transition’. ‘Living with’ resource frontiers bring attention to people’s everyday lives, and why and how they adapt, resist, comply, suffer and profit from resource frontiers. In bringing together a diverse set of literatures with original empirical research, the articles in this collection offer analyses of Myanmar’s pre-coup period that inform contemporary post-coup politics. Together, they demonstrate the material, affective, and embodied nature of resource frontiers as they are (re)made and lived with – in and beyond militarised spaces like Myanmar.
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| 18 |
ID:
189361
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| Summary/Abstract |
Scholarship on resource frontiers has often privileged moments of discovery and sites of spectacular infrastructure and extraction. Yet smallholders can alter socio-ecological landscapes in ways that structure spatial and political possibilities even after resource rushes wane. In this paper, I draw on ethnographic research to illustrate how agrarian frontier histories shape contemporary ethnic and territorial boundary-making. In Kalay Valley, activists drew on the colonial principle of ethnic separation and aligned with a national turn towards territorialisation to successfully advocate for restoring the colonial boundary. But efforts at demarcation contrasted with historical practices of cultivating ambiguity on the rice frontier, spurring new forms of border work. I argue, first, that this case demonstrates a change in how land is governed in Myanmar – from a regime of cultivated ambiguity, towards one of negotiated delineation – and, second, that it underscores the need for greater attention to the ways in which agrarian frontier practices shape racialized territorialisation.
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| 19 |
ID:
189366
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Westphalian concept of sovereignty frames international relations and law. Since the 2007 UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the notion of Indigenous sovereignty has also entered international political debate. In this article, we examine the underlying premise of Westphalian and Indigenous sovereignties. A scoping review of the literature reveals that Westphalian sovereignty is a Eurocentric concept implicated in the colonialisation of Indigenous peoples in settler societies. Conversely, Indigenous sovereignty is a broader idea that involves social and cultural aspects, recognises the interdependencies between political actors and relationships to the land, and acknowledges the contextualised nature of sovereignty. We suggest that the two conceptions of sovereignty cannot be reconciled with each other. However, in a shifting political terrain, Indigenous sovereignty poses a critical challenge to the Eurocentric definition of sovereignty.
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