Boundary, Border, Limit in Political Science: Towards a Conceptual History

This paper demonstrates and tries to explain the remarkable diffusion of the "boundary" concept in recent years in the human sciences, and in political science in particular. It will present and discuss some of the possible conceptualizations of "boundary" and related terms, such as "border" or "limit", using examples from the history of the human sciences in France, Germany, and the UK. Generally speaking, "boundary" lends itself to being understood as a symbolic division which requires a specific kind of social activity to be maintained ("boundary maintenance" or "boundary work"). This is the reason why, especially after the work of Fredrik Barth, it has had a particular success in constructivist theories, which emphasize the artificial character of political and cultural distinctions. This paper will seek to explore a longer history, taking into account current developments (such as the "cognitive turn" advocated by Brubaker and others) as much as more classical contributions on or around the notions of boundary, border, limit, such as the reflection on categorization and classification (e.g. Durkheim/Mauss, Leach, Mary Douglas); on liminality (Simmel, Turner); on national identity (Mauss, Weber, van Gennep, Aron).