Revisiting, Reconciling and Recasting the Generalised Biopolitical Border: Seeking a Reconciled Multiperspectival Methodology for the Analysis of Concrete Textual Materials in the (Re)production of Sovereign Borders

Abstract: This thesis is essentially a project in theory- and method-building. It engages the strengths of Vaughan-Williams’ alternative border imaginary under the name of the generalised biopolitical border (GBB) in accounting for the complexity of border phenomena in contemporary global politics. However, it identifies two major shortcomings related to Vaughan-Williams’ application of the GBB to various empirical analyses: 1) he does not provide a clearly elaborated methodology for its implementation in analysis; and 2) he demonstrates an insensitivity to language and concrete textual materials more specifically in the (re)production of sovereign borders. The intention is to work with the GBB and alleviate these shortcomings. To do so, the GBB is critically reconciled on the basis of its roots in Agambean theory with Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory at both the theoretical and conceptual level. This reconciled apparatus is thereafter translated into a coherent multiperspectival methodological approach for analysing concrete textual material in the (re)production of sovereign borders. The applicability of the approach is then illustrated in the context of Frontex discourse on border control whereafter its value-added benefits and limitations are discussed. The central argument is that this multiperspectival approach provides the GBB with a more comprehensive analytical register.