Territory, Migration and the Evolution of the International System [Hardcover]

This book deconstructs territoriality in the context of current and past European politics to advance international relations scholars' understanding of the uses and limits of territory in European history as well as the origin of an international system. It looks to the future of migration regimes beyond the territorially exclusive state.Preface: The Queue Jumping Analogy 1. Introduction 2. Migration and Mental Maps 3. Centralization in the Italian City-State 4. Expansion of the British Empire 5. Integrating Europe 6. Projecting Territorial Change Epilogue: Theory From the South

With globalisation established as a process that shrinks the space-time continuum and increases social density, the task before us is to normalise the sometimes bewildering outcomes by means of historical work. Vigneswaran does that for migration.

- Iver Neumann, Montague Burton Professor of IR, London School of Economics, UK

Vigneswaran demonstrates adroitly how imagined cartographies produce territorial control of mobility. He delivers on the radical opening premise that while human migration transforms political space, political systems remain inept in responding to migration. He contextualizes contemporary border enforcement with alternative historical narratives of state territoriality. The book offers thoughtful and far-reaching analysis of European history to posit mental maps as 'radical simplifications' of space designed to control. Vigneswaran moves daringly beyond critique to ask how future systems of governance might actually work. This is an essential, lively, and illuminating read for anyone interested in political geography, mobility and territoriality.

- Alison Mountz, Balsillie School of International Affairs, Canada

Darshan Vigneswaran is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Urban Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and a Senior Researcher at the African Centre for Migration lC(