Borders - A brief background

1. BORDERS:
Significance in
Exercising
Sovereignty and
Examples in the
Asian Context

2. Outline of the Report
I. Emergence and Purpose of Borders in History
II. Developments on the Study of Borders
III. Border Identities
IV. Borders and Security
V. Examples of Contested Borders in the Context of
Asia
2

3. WHAT ARE BORDERS?
➢Lines that divide the world into specific places, territories, and
categories.
➢They may be political and geographical in nature that is used
to control specifically defined areas.
➢Functions include:
 Creation of places
 Being an instrument of the state
 Being a marker of identity
3

4. WHAT ARE BORDERS?
➢An invisible geographical boundary that
demarcates the territories of political and
judicial entities, for example of states,
governments, federated states, and other
super-national entities.
➢Borders may be permeable or closed. In
the more permeable state they allow
exchange of people goods and ideas. In
the more closed state they prevent the
flow of people, ideas and goods.
4

5. ➢The frequent movement of people due to a rising civilization
prompted the need to create clearly defined lines
➢A border may have been:
 Agreed by the countries on both sides;
 Inherited from a former internal border, such as within the
former Soviet Union;
 Imposed by the country on one side;
 Imposed by third parties (e.g. an international conference);
 Inherited from a former state, colonial power or aristocratic
territory; or
 Never formally defined.
5
Emergence of Borders

6. ➢Asian perspective – a post-colonial and post-partition region
where most borders were drawn with political motives,
ignoring the socio-cultural realities of the region and
economic necessities of the people.
➢Border Studies in Asia – should consider, trans-border
cooperation, water-sharing between countries, and resolution of
border problems in the age of liberalisation and globalization.
6
Emergence of Borders

7. ➢Border’s relationship relative to its own state
region(s);
➢State’s relationship to the bordering state or
region;
➢Nature of the central state institutions;
➢Levels of governance operating on that
border;
➢State economy;
➢Political strength of the country; and
➢Market forces
7
Influences on the Creation of Border

8. ➢ There is a difference to traditional and modern approaches
to border studies.
➢ 1960s – relative neglect for Border Studies; view on the
passive role of borders for international relations.
➢ The rise of changes in sociopolitical order gave rise to the
study of territories. This led to the “territorial trap”
8
Development of Border Studies

9. ➢ Territorial Trap – relegation of the study of borders to subfields
like political anthropology, political geography, or regional
politics.
➢ Has three interrelated assumptions:
1. States are exclusive arbiters of power in their territories
2. Domestic and foreign affairs are different realms of political
and social activity
3. The boundaries of the state, match the boundaries of society.
9
Development of Border Studies

10. ➢ Throughout the following years:
- 1960-1970
- 1980
- 1990
➢ Led to the emphasis of border studies but within the context of
“security”
➢ Also resulted in the advancement of the neoliberal economic
thought in border studies
10
Development of Border Studies

11. ➢ Due to border instability and disappearance of literal border
landmarks, this led to a transition of human spatiality and
borders.
➢ This led to problems in balancing security, free intra-trade
(soft border) while also creating restrictions (hard border)
11
Development of Border Studies

12. ➢ The idea of a national border became conflated with the idea
of national identity.
➢ Argument by Patent (2017) - more critical perspective on
borders and the idea of nationhood encompasses a view that
suggests that borders are real only by a shared belief in
their legitimacy.
➢ The point here is that borders are the cause of national
identity rather than the result of national identity.
12
Border Identities

13. ➢ Borders played a dual role in these
processes as both causes and
effects. In some ways, national or
ethnic identities provided the
cause for marking new state
borders, but in other ways new
state borders had the effect of
furthering the creation of new
national or ethnic identities.
13
Border Identities

14. ➢ Transborder identities - involve multiple border-crossings
coupled with advances in communication and transportation
technologies led to new migration patterns that entails
profound economic, cultural, political, and social changes
➢ Sovereignty is profoundly tested as diasporas (usually defined
as ethnic groups living beyond the borders of their national
homelands with desires to someday return) challenges the
value of border permeability
14
Border Identities

15. 15
Borders and Security
➢ Central to the maintenance of borders is the concept of
national security and state’s capacity
➢ Borders and borderland – act as symbols of state
securitization. In addition, the role of state borders evolves
with the nature of threats perceived.
➢ Traditional efforts at enhancing border security by reducing
permeability as counterproductive

16. 16
Borders and Security
➢ There is relativity to border permeability (e.g. drug cartels
and other movement of goods)
➢ The concept of Contingent Sovereignty also emerged and
this refers to the evolving nature of the nation-state system.
➢ The concept of Indigenous Sovereignty challenged the
notion of ussi possedetis and exposed the racisms
embedded in historical and political treatment of the
sovereign state to indigenous land claims

17. 17
Examples of Contested Lands/Borders in the
Context of Asia
Sino-Indian Border Dispute – China/India
➢ The root cause is an ill-defined, 3,440km
(2,100-mile)-long disputed border.
Rivers, lakes and snowcaps along the
frontier mean the line can shift, bringing
soldiers face to face at many points,
sparking a confrontation. The two
nations are also competing to build
infrastructure along the border, which is
also known as the Line of Actual Control.

18. 18
Examples of Contested Lands/Borders in the
Context of Asia
Palestinian Territory
➢ The boundaries of a future Palestinian State, vis-a-vis Israel, are
subject to ongoing negotiations in the Israel–Palestinian peace
process. There are proposals such as removal of the Arab-Israeli
border region, the Triangle, from Israeli sovereignty and transferred to
the Palestinian Authority, in exchange for the border settlement blocs.
➢ Israel has continued to claim a nominal strip on the border between
the West Bank and Jordan, and between Gaza and Egypt as its border
with those countries.

19. 19
Examples of Contested Borders in the
Context of Asia
Bangladesh and India Border Dispute
 The India–Bangladesh border is the fifth
largest land border in the world measuring
circa 4096.7 km. The India–Bangladesh
border is viewed as a ‘security concern’ by
New Delhi and has sought to secure the
border with Bangladesh.
 India began created a wall separating it from
neighboring Bangladesh, covering a distance
of 3200 kilometers.

20. Resources
Dhananjay Tripathi & Sanjay Chaturvedi (2020) South
Asia: Boundaries, Borders and Beyond, Journal of
Borderlands Studies, 35:2, 173-181, DOI:
10.1080/08865655.2019.1669483
Diener, Alexander C. and Joshua Hagen (2012) Borders: a
very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Wilson, T. and H. (2012). A Companion to Border Studies.
Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell
https://openlearn.medium.com/what-are-borders-
d2cfb79def81
https://www.e-ir.info/2018/06/11/borderwork-and-
borders-in-south-asia-through-structuration/

21. THANK YOU!