The Transformation of Sovereign Territoriality: A Case Study of South African Immigration Control

Abstract

More than 15 years after the publication of the seminal article ‘Territoriality and Beyond’ in the leading journal, International Organization, International Relations (IR) scholars are still coming to terms with John Ruggie’s (1993) analysis of fundamental change in the international system. Part of his larger, decades-long multidisciplinary project on ‘transformation’, this article asked readers to consider whether actors in the international system might change how they divided land among themselves, and, if so, why? Attempts to find answers have generated a small mountain of historically oriented scholarship (see, for example, Keene, 2002; Krasner, 1999; Linklater, 1998; Rae, 2002; Reus-Smit, 1999; Rosenberg, 1994; Sassen, 2006; Spruyt, 1994; Teschke, 2003). Yet IR scholars still struggle with the most pressing question Ruggie raised: if the modern state system based on principles of sovereign, territorial exclusivity is facing new challenges, what might a ‘postmodern’ or ‘post-Westphalian’ order look like?