Introduction
| Author | Elizabeth F. Cohen |
| DOI | 10.1177/14748851221077553 |
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium on Shachar’s The Shifting Border |
Introduction
Elizabeth F. Cohen
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse
University, Syracuse, NY, USA
Abstract
Ayelet Shachar’s lead essay in
The Shifting Border
draws out dramatic transformations of
bordering practices currently taking place worldwide. These have yielded spatial reloca-
tions for bordering, a privatization of enforcement, and legal innovations that tie the bor-
der to individual people as they move, among many other changes. Shachar argues in
favor of a form of reciprocity, in which states that shape shift their borders are also com-
pelled to recognize rights for people who require humanitarian assistance. In response,
Shachar’s interlocutors offer an array of reflections and friendly amendments.
Last year a group of scholars gathered to engage the issues raised by
The Shifting Border
.
The result was the provocative discussion that follows. Ayelet Shachar’s lead essay in the
book packs a provocative punch, succinctly drawing out dramatic transformations of bor-
dering practices currently taking place worldwide. These transformations have been in
some cases undertaken secretively and in other cases effected so incrementally that
highly consequential changes to our rights regimes can sometimes go undetected. The
more that people move, it seems, the more fluid borders need to be to ensure that mobility
remains a discretionary privilege under the control of traditional gatekeepers. This has
yielded spatial relocations for bordering, a privatization of enforcement, and legal inno-
vations that tie the border to individual people as they move, among many other changes.
Shachar observes pointedly the absence of a corresponding transformation of responsibil-
ity for the consequences of these transformations. Our borders are now webs through
which a select few may pass, but each year millions are trapped by those webs and the
survival of those people doesn’t seem to matter to any of the agents who are in a position
to protect them.
Corresponding author:
Elizabeth F. Cohen, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, 200 Eggers Hall,
Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
Email: efcohen@syr.edu
Symposium on Shachar’s The Shifting Border
European Journal of Political Theory
2022, Vol. 21(3) 585–586
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/14748851221077553
journals.sagepub.com/home/ept
To continue reading
Request your trial