Border security, 9/11 and the enclosure of civilisation

This article describes the impact of the events of 11 September 2001 on the practice of border security in the United States, India and Israel. It argues that the discourse of the global war on terror shifted the perception of border fencing from the anachronistic imagery of the Berlin Wall to that of a modern and essential way to secure the future of civilisation and freedom. The hardening of the border, in turn, legitimates and exacerbates exclusionary practices within each state.