Walled States, Waning Sovereignty

Overview

Walled States, Waning Sovereignty, published in 2010 by Wendy Brown, examines the remarkable proliferation of border walls around the world in the early twenty-first century. Brown argues that the building of walls by nation-states — from the United States-Mexico border wall to the Israeli separation barrier to the walls separating India and Bangladesh — is a paradoxical phenomenon: it occurs at precisely the moment when the sovereignty of the nation-state is being eroded by the forces of globalization.

Brown's central thesis is that the wall-building frenzy is a symptom of the waning of state sovereignty. The nation-state, Brown argues, is no longer the sovereign master of its territory that it was in the classical Westphalian model. The flow of capital, goods, people, and information across borders has eroded the state's capacity to control its borders and to govern its territory. The wall is a theatrical performance of sovereignty — a desperate attempt to project an image of control that the state no longer possesses.

Key Ideas

Brown argues that the wall is a "theater of sovereignty" — a performance of power that is intended to reassure anxious populations that the state is still in control. But the wall is also a confession of weakness: the very fact that a state needs to build a wall is evidence that its sovereignty is not what it claims to be. The wall is a "spectacle" of sovereignty that reveals the gap between the state's claim to control and its actual capacity.

Brown also analyzes the political psychology of wall-building. The wall is a response to the anxieties generated by globalization — the fear of the other, the fear of loss of identity, the fear of economic insecurity. The wall promises to contain these anxieties by creating a clear boundary between "us" and "them." But the wall, Brown argues, is a false solution: it does not address the real sources of anxiety, and it may actually intensify the problems it purports to solve.

Influence

Walled States, Waning Sovereignty has been influential in political theory, geography, and border studies. Brown's analysis of the paradox of wall-building in an age of globalization has shaped debates about the future of the nation-state, the meaning of sovereignty, and the politics of borders.

Sources

1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Wendy Brown." Survey of Brown's contributions to political theory.
2. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Sovereignty." Analysis of the concept of sovereignty in political philosophy.