Leanne Weber - Policing Non-Citizens

CONTENTS

As with other periods of momentous and rapid change, globalisation has given rise to deep-seated problems of order. While structural changes, such as the deregulation and global reach of capitalism and associated political turmoil, are the primary sources of instability in the developed world, contemporary problems of insecurity are often attributed to the spontaneous incursions of suspect populations into zones of relative affluence and order (Weber and Bowling 2008). These unsettling developments have led to intensified efforts by developed states to reinforce and redefine boundaries of belonging and entitlement in the name of security (Bosniak 2006; Bosworth and Guild 2008; Dauvergne 2008; Watson 2009; Zedner 2010). These developments raise many questions about the policing of non-citizens and others whose claims to belong are disputed or unclear. At the external border, unwanted mobilities may be actively policed out using pre-emptive technologies designed to selectively prevent border crossing. This book concentrates on the policing of the internal border and the networked nature of that border policing effort. It draws on empirical research conducted in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) which was designed to identify the means by which individuals designated under federal law as unlawful non-citizens are detected by networks of public and private agencies (Policing Migration in Australia: An Analysis of Onshore Migration Policing Networks, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP0774554, Chief Investigator Leanne Weber, Research Team Amanda Wilson, Jenny Wise and Alyce McGovern).