Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-239) and index.

Introduction -- Borders: thick and thin ; Part I: The Perimeter. The Wall and its shadow: security in the borderlands -- One border, two sovereigns? -- Co-bordering, cosmopolitanism and the specter of empire ; Part II: The Ports of Entry. The tiniest constable: big data, security and the Politics of Identification -- Sovereignty, security and the Politics of Trust -- Into the digital dark: data, the global firewall and the future of security.

Borders sit at the center of global politics. Yet they are too often understood as thin lines, as they appear on maps, rather than as political institutions in their own right. This book takes a detailed look at the evolution of border security in the United States after 9/11. Far from the walls and fences that dominate the news, it reveals borders to be thick, multi-faceted and binational institutions that have evolved greatly in recent decades. The book contributes to debates within political science on sovereignty, citizenship, cosmopolitanism, human rights and global justice. In particular, the new politics of borders reveal a sovereignty that is not waning, but changing, expanding beyond the state carapace and engaging certain logics of empire. -- Provided by publisher.