"The spatial politics of (neo-)imperial mobility control" by CWP alum Enze Han
What can the study of past imperial practices of mobility control tell us about the present? In this article, we engage with the growing literature that examines how past colonial and imperial practices shape present state strategies of population control, by focusing on the spatial politics of imperial transport practices, and the lessons they provide for understanding similarities between historical and contemporary (neo-)imperial forms of population management. Historically, we look at three common imperial practices: convict transport and the use of penal colonies; slavery and indentured labour; and forced exile and banishment. Each of these three practices relied heavily on spatial practices combined with state repression that are replicated in some respects by a range of contemporary state population management practices, including border externalisation and migrant warehousing; facilitated labour emigration; migration diplomacy; and transnational repression. We ask whether existing state-based conceptualisations of migration policy are sufficient for understanding the at-times global scale of states’ mobility control and population management policies and argue for the utility of introducing a neo-imperial framework for understanding contemporary population management practices.
Fiona B. Adamson & Enze Han (06 Oct 2026): The spatial politics of (neo-)imperial mobility control, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2026.2735125 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2026.2735125
Professor Enze Han is Associate Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration. His research interests include international relations of East Asia, China’s relations with Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian politics, and ethnic politics in China. Professor Han received a Ph.D in Political Science from the George Washington University in the United States in 2010. Afterwards he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the China and the World Program at Princeton University. During 2015-2016, he was a Friends Founders’ Circle Member of the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA. In 2017, he was a fellow at the East Asia Institute in Seoul, South Korea. During 2021-2022, he was Lee Kong Chian Fellow on Contemporary Southeast Asia at the National University of Singapore and Stanford University. His research has been supported by the Leverhulme Research Fellowship and British Council/Newton Fund. Prior to HKU, Professor Han was Senior Lecturer in the International Security of East Asia at SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom.
Photo Credit: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1369183X.2026.2735125
