Bordersnational

Bordersnational is a term used in political science and security studies to analyze the dynamic relationship between borders and nationalist movements and policies. It describes how border demarcation and control interact with ideas of national belonging, sovereignty, and identity, and how nationalism in turn shapes border practices and governance.

Origin and usage: The term is not standardized across disciplines but is employed to capture a field of inquiry focused on how border regimes produce, sustain, or challenge national imagined communities and how nationalist narratives justify or oppose border closures, restrictions on movement, and citizenship rules.

Scope and themes: Core concerns include border control and management, citizenship regimes, migration governance, securitization of borders, borderlands and cross-border cultures, and the role of memory and historical narratives in legitimizing state boundaries.

Historical context: The study of borders and nationalism traces the emergence of modern state borders with state formation in the early modern era, followed by selective expansion and fortification in the 19th and 20th centuries. In recent decades, globalization and security concerns have intensified border politics, including externalization of borders and the use of digital surveillance.

Debates and criticisms: Proponents argue that bordersnational helps explain how nationalist sentiment stabilizes states, while critics warn that it risks essentializing identities and justifying exclusion, harming refugees and migrants, and overlooking transnational connections and human rights concerns.

See also: Border, Nationalism, Sovereignty, Immigration policy, Borderlands studies.