Space of Compromise: Border Control and the Limited Inclusion of Burmese Migrants in China

Xiaobo Su and Xiaomei Cai

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2020, vol. 110, issue 3, 847-863

Abstract: Enforcement of border control has become a global trend as nation-states endeavor to regulate cross-border flows and handle security risks posed by migrants. This article analyzes the China–Myanmar border, which is hitherto neglected in the literature but undergoes innovative experimentation in border control, to complement the well-established literature on border enforcement. We draw on a theoretical framework based on the work of Gramsci in relation to hegemony and compromise. An analysis of compromise in border politics can unpack the complexity of borders and demonstrate that border control can be accomplished through means other than walls and militarization. It is found that Burmese migrant workers are economically included in and spatially limited by Chinese border cities, giving rise to a mode of limited inclusion for border control. This mode turns border cities into spaces of compromise where Burmese migrants can live and work but must endure economic exploitation, spatial confinement, and social discrimination. We argue that China’s compromise-oriented border control toward Burmese migrants offers evidence of how border can become flexible and prohibitive and be enforced through intense surveillance, policing, and fear in the border cities, instead of only at the borderline. With militarized border control remaining highly capricious and controversial, compromise-driven institutional arrangement (through the armor of coercion) to handle the tension among national security, capital accumulation, and labor supply does arguably offer an alternative but has its flaws. Key Words: border control, China–Myanmar border, compromise, hegemony, limited inclusion.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24694452.2019.1644989 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:110:y:2020:i:3:p:847-863

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/raag21

DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2019.1644989

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of the American Association of Geographers is currently edited by Jennifer Cassidento

More articles in Annals of the American Association of Geographers from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().