TY - JOUR

T1 - Vision and transterritory

T2 - the borders of Europe

AU - Follis, Karolina

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Science, Technology, and Human Values, 42 (6), 2017, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Science, Technology, and Human Values page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/sth on SAGE Journals Online

PY - 2017/11/1

Y1 - 2017/11/1

N2 - This essay is about the role of visual surveillance technologies in the policing of the external borders of the European Union. Based on an analysis of documents published by EU institutions and independent organizations I argue that these technological innovations fundamentally alter the nature of national borders. I discuss how new technologies of vision are deployed to transcend the physical limits of territories. In the last twenty years EU member states and institutions have increasingly relied on various forms of remote tracking, including the use of drones for the purposes of monitoring frontier zones. In combination with other facets of the EU border management regime (such as transnational databases and biometrics) these technologies coalesce into a system of governance thathas enabled intervention into neighboring territories and territorial watersof other states to track and target migrants for interception in the “prefrontier.”For jurisdictional reasons, this practice effectively precludes the enforcement of legal human rights obligations, which European states might otherwise have with regard to these persons. This article argues that this technologically mediated expansion of vision has become a key feature of post-Cold War governance of borders in Europe. The concept of transterritory is proposed to capture its effects.

AB - This essay is about the role of visual surveillance technologies in the policing of the external borders of the European Union. Based on an analysis of documents published by EU institutions and independent organizations I argue that these technological innovations fundamentally alter the nature of national borders. I discuss how new technologies of vision are deployed to transcend the physical limits of territories. In the last twenty years EU member states and institutions have increasingly relied on various forms of remote tracking, including the use of drones for the purposes of monitoring frontier zones. In combination with other facets of the EU border management regime (such as transnational databases and biometrics) these technologies coalesce into a system of governance thathas enabled intervention into neighboring territories and territorial watersof other states to track and target migrants for interception in the “prefrontier.”For jurisdictional reasons, this practice effectively precludes the enforcement of legal human rights obligations, which European states might otherwise have with regard to these persons. This article argues that this technologically mediated expansion of vision has become a key feature of post-Cold War governance of borders in Europe. The concept of transterritory is proposed to capture its effects.

KW - borders

KW - surveillance

KW - drones

KW - European Union

KW - Eurosur

U2 - 10.1177/0162243917715106

DO - 10.1177/0162243917715106

M3 - Journal article

VL - 42

SP - 1003

EP - 1030

JO - Science, Technology, and Human Values

JF - Science, Technology, and Human Values

SN - 0162-2439

IS - 6

ER -