Devolution, delegation, and digitisation: Accountability gaps in fragmented border regimes

Contemporary borders are increasingly fragmented and dispersed, variously through externalisation practices and inwardly through everyday bordering checks. In this paper I pay specific attention to one implication of this condition and ask, what does this fragmentation mean for accountability in contemporary state borders? That is to say, the state is responsible for inscribing its borders, but who is accountable for the effects of the border? Who ensures that the rights of those targeted by the border are honoured, holds the authority to remedy issues that arise from the enactment of the border, and, crucially, can be confronted to honour these obligations? Through examining the EU Settlement Scheme, which has re bordered the UK following Brexit, particularly its operationalisation in Northern Ireland as the only part of the UK that shares a land border with the EU, I demonstrate that fragmentation has allowed for an accountability gap to be introduced into state border regimes by enabling states to distance themselves from accountability for the effects of their border policies across three dimensions: devolution, delegation, and digitisation. The distances produced through this accountability gap do not reduce the state's capacity to control and monitor migrants, but are designed to prevent those who engage with the border from being able to hold the government accountable for any loss of rights suffered through the enactment of the policy.