Rethinking Authority in China’s Border Regime

Regulating the Irregular
Erscheinungsjahr 2022
ISBN: 978-94-6372-635-1
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 9, 318 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: New Mobilities in Asia

In the 21st century, governments around the globe are faced with the question on how to tackle new migratory mobilities. Governments increasingly become aware of irregular immigration and are forced to re-negotiate the dilemma of open but secure borders. Rethinking Authority in China’s Border Regime: Regulating the Irregular investigates the Chinese government’s response to this phenomenon. Hence, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese border regime. It explores the regulatory framework of border mobility in China by analysing laws, institutions, and discourses as part of an ethnographic border regime analysis. It argues that the Chinese state deliberately creates ‘zones of exception’ along its border. In these zones, local governments function as ‘scalar managers’ that establish cross-border relations to facilitate cross-border mobility and create local migration systems that build on their own notion of legality by issuing locally valid border documents. The book presents an empirically rich story of how border politics are implemented and theoretically contributes to debates on territoriality and sovereignty as well as to the question of how authority is exerted through border management. Empirically, the analysis builds on two case studies at the Sino-Myanmar and Sino-North Korean borders to illustrate how local practices are embedded in multiscalar mobility regulation including regional organizations such as the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Greater Tumen Initiative.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Plümmer, Franziska

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Migrations- & Minderheitenpolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Totalitarismus & Diktaturen
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Maps, Tables, and Figures

List of Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

Multiple Borders – Tracking the Border down

Contextualizing Chinese Border Politics in the Making

On Border Regimes, Sovereignty, and Immigration

Methodological Reflections

Map of the Book

2 Border Authority and Zoning Technologies

Border as a Method of Investigation

Territorial Governmentality and Zoning Technologies

Self-regulation and Self-responsibility in China’s Neo-socialist Governmentality

3 Graduated Citizenship and Social Control in China’s Immigration System

The Power to Choose

Characteristics of the Chinese Immigration System

Labelling Immigrants: Differentiating Legal Authority and Control over Immigrants

Rationalities of the Chinese Immigration System

4 Making Border Politics: State Actors & Security in the Chinese Border Regime

Locating Border Security Control: Externalization/Internalization

State Configurations in Border Politics

Defending the Border: Security Enforcement

Internal Border Security: Developing Border Areas from Within

Policing at Distance and Local Exceptions

5 Re-Scaling Territorial Authority within Regional Organizations

From Left behind to Bridging the Gap: Re-scaling the Chinese State

Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)

Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI)

Zoning through Development

6 Local Bordering Practices and Zoning Technologies

Southwest: Dehong and Xishuangbanna Prefecture/Yunnan Province

Northeast: Yanbian Prefecture/Jilin Province

Legality as a Selective, Conditional, and Locally Bound Privilege

7 Conclusion — Authority in the Chinese Border Regime

Special Border Zones: Normalizing Local Exceptions

The Role of Local Governments in China’s Border Management

Border as a Method of Social Control: Graduated Citizenship in China’s Immigration System

Border as a Method of Spatial Development: Territoriality and Centre-Periphery Relations

References

Appendix A: Institutional Architecture of Yunnan Province in the GMS

Appendix B: Institutional Architecture of Jilin Province in the GTI

Glossary

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Plümmer, Franziska
Franziska Plümmer is Assistant Professor of Europe-China relations at the University of Amsterdam researching the role of Chinese technology companies in European data regulation and 'critical' infrastructure provision. Generally, her research lies at the intersection of International Relations, Critical Security Studies and China Studies focusing on mobility of migrants and data across borders.