Knowledge/recognition: Counting and the predicament of the permeable biopolitical state

Abstract

This article draws a model for viewing border politics based on experiences in Norway. The starting point is that the authorities do not count irregular resident migrants and openly refuse to help this group. While this makes governing this group harder, this choice makes sense from the point of view of the problem of sovereignty. Border policies in general and the decision not to count is a solution to ‘the predicament of permeable nation states in an age of migration’. What is not openly admitted is a tolerance for administrative efforts that both channel assistance to irregular migrants and keep track of their numbers. There is a general denial of the predicament, but also a strong tendency to ‘adapt’. The article examines the situation in Norway, but there are reasons to believe that the predicament defines politics in the EU and elsewhere.

Street Users in Drug Policy: On the Underestimated Role of Welfare Institutions

“…Similarly, the numbers of deaths caused by cordial diseases has been reduced by 50% since 200850% since (NIPH 2019a. Hospitals conduct autopsies to learn from as many deaths as the finances allow (Johansen 2020). State organizations monitor the prevalence of illnesses and causes of death closely, and are prepared to react quickly if there are changes in threats to the lives of citizens.…”

Border politics, the “hostile environment” for’ migration, and education in the UK

“…Clearly, the failure of the state to control its borders suggested here was a troubling political issue. With asylum applications having fallen to their lowest point since 1989 to under-18,000 in 2010 (Blinder, 2019), and numbers defined as the problem, the presence of another subpopulation of non-citizens on the territory attesting to permeable borders (Johansen, 2018), turned state attention from "bogus" asylum seekers to (criminalized) undocumented or "illegal" migrants.…”

Policies funnelling irregular migrants: On dispersed control in the emerging landscape of order production

“…First they are not allowed to stay on Norwegian territory and being present is in itself disorderly. Secondly, their presence creates a political crisis, since it shows that the state is unable to maintain its borders (Johansen 2018a).…”

“…I will use policy developments regarding irregular migrants as my example throughout this article, but this puts a limit on the level of analysis that can be presented. I have formerly conducted analyses of funnel policies relating to drug use and visiting Roma (Johansen 2013(Johansen , 2014a(Johansen , 2014b(Johansen , 2014c(Johansen , 2014d(Johansen , 2015(Johansen , 2018a(Johansen , 2018b(Johansen , 2018c(Johansen , 2018d, but the real topic is the emergence of certain political developments that transcend the particularities of individual fields. Stumpf (2006) inaugurated what has later become known as the crimmigration tradition of criminology.…”