Split Personality of the Sovereign: The Interplay of Power within Bordering Practices of Exclusion at the Polish-Belarusian Border

Abstract

This article compares two theoretical tools popular among migration researchers: the concept of “bare life” offered by Giorgio Agamben, and the conceptualization of border practices and security in critical border and security studies. The paper presents how Agambenian theory seems to lack proper analysis of power, which can be provided by critical theory. Also, Agamben’s insufficient substantiation of resistance to exclusion should be supported by the normative critique offered by critical theorists of security. This enables proper examination of the humanitarian crisis provoked by both the Belarusian and Polish states’ bordering practices in 2021 and 2022. In result, an analysis of Polish and Belarusian bordering practices through this theoretical lens suggests how the critical approach to borders and security may be useful in depicting precisely the interplay of power within a sovereign state and in researching possibilities of resistance against practices of exclusion.