On borders: territories, legitimacy, and the rights of place

In: Oxford scholarship online

Abstract

'On Borders' asks when are borders legitimate, and it offers a new theory to answer the question. The text challenges critical and normative theories that criticize or justify borders solely in terms of identity (who you are), and instead frames borders and border legitimacy from the perspective of place and presence (where you are). Instead of thinking of borders as the exclusionary limit of identity groups (a 'desert island model'), the work develops a theory of territorial jurisdictions grounded on place-specific relations, giving central roles to urban settings and the environment. Paulina Ochoa Espejo calls this the 'watershed model' of territorial rights and borders.