Borders and the Limits of Authority

Robert M. Hayden

doi:10.14434/aeer.v37i1.33575

Abstract

In this article I introduce a variety of social, political and economic collectivities to analyze ways in which their interactions are influenced by borders as the territorial delimitations of legal authority, or jurisdictions. The limits of authority within such collectivities are seen in the overlapping grants of authority that impact them. To the extent that borders delineate spheres of legitimate action by governments, they can be defensive of the rights of people within them as well as protective of the rights of governments to impinge on those same rights, or both simultaneously. Borders can thus be constraining of those who cannot easily pass across them, yet simultaneously unconstraining of international actors who may be predatory on those who expect their state to protect them. If we are to understand borders, boundaries and cognate phenomena, we need always to take both sets of relations into account.

Highlights

In this article I introduce a variety of social, political and economic collectivities to analyze ways in which their interactions are influenced by borders as the territorial delimitations of legal authority, or jurisdictions
Borders are perhaps first and most often seen as the territorial delimitations of states, and their characteristics as varying. Such borders can be largely innocuous, possibly even without controls, as within the Schengen Zone of the European Union, or between Ireland and the UK in Northern Ireland before Brexit, or between states in the USA or provinces within Canada. In the former Yugoslavia, for instance, the borders between republics were not even marked in any obvious fashion, unlike those of the American states, where one is always welcomed to that state by the current governor
Coming to Greek beaches from Belgrade each summer, for example, usually costs me at least a few hours waiting to cross checkpoints, and a couple of pages of my passport, since I get stamped for the exit from Serbia, entry into North Macedonia, exit from North Macedonia, entry to Greece, and the reverse on the way back

Summary

Introduction

In this article I introduce a variety of social, political and economic collectivities to analyze ways in which their interactions are influenced by borders as the territorial delimitations of legal authority, or jurisdictions. With the Bull People, marked territory (borders) were linked to social groups (families), but at levels below those usually used for analysis.

Results

Conclusion