E-Bordering the European Union: Digital Surveillance and European Citizenship

Although there is a rich body of literature dealing with the securitization of the immigration processes in the EU (see Huysmans 2006, Guild 2009, Van Munster 2009), except a few studies (see Broeders 2007) particular practices of the e-borders (e.g. SIS I and II, Eurodac, VIS) are usually not emphasized in detail. Shifting the focus from macro developments to the microphysics of power (see Dean 1999, Barry 2001, Foucault 2007), the affects of e-bordering practices on different groups will be emphasized in this paper. Since borders have always been tied to the processes of identity construction, diffused e-borders also raise important questions about the changing nature of the European identity. In a sense, we could talk about the diffusion of the identity construction to everywhere within the EU as a result of the database technology, sorting and categorizing people automatically as citizens, non-citizens, “illegal” immigrants, “bogus” refugees, terrorist suspects and so on. However, this relational construction of identity via e-borders also opens up a space for resistance and contestation. In this paper, it will be emphasized that particularly the type of resistances that call into question the narrow definition of citizenship which is based on the “idea” of the nation-state (see Isin 2008) and that incorporate the discourses of human rights for showing the inconsistencies within this narrow understanding (see Ranciere 2004) could be successful not only for resisting the establishment of the e-borders but also for moving beyond the limited conception of Europe and European community (see Balibar 2004).