SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

In my dissertation, I examine how the practice of “exporting the border” (also referred to as “extraterritorializing” or “offshoring” immigration controls) has come to be central feature of the immigration control regimes of the United States and the United Kingdom. I do not ask why such states have “extra-territorialized” their immigration controls but rather, examine the shared cultural meanings that have enabled such ‘extraterritorialization.’

More specifically, I argue that law – through its role in the construction of meaning, and particularly the meaning of sovereignty - has played a crucial role in enabling the extraterritorial exercise of state power. I examine how certain recurrent assumptions and binaries in Anglo-American and international law – such as a narrow understanding of state action and a clear distinction between legislation and enforcement – have helped to construct and maintain a particular concept of sovereignty. This concept of sovereignty emphasizes the centrality of territory and territorial borders, even as it enables the exercise of certain forms of state power abroad.