In the Shadow of the Damoclesian Border

In the contemporary international order, control of borders is the central totem of statehood. The call to “take back control” of borders was the siren song of Brexit, underpins the governing project of Donald Trump, and has driven support for radical right parties across Europe. This relentless drive for border control has resulted in more and more people being bordered. As such, in this paper I ask, what does taking back control of borders feel like when you are the one being bordered? I introduce the concept of the Damoclesian border to offer a nuanced insight into the anxiety and uncertainty that emerges from living under a border that is fundamentally contingent and indeterminate. Through a dialogue between critical border studies and ontological security studies, I demonstrate how contemporary bordering practices are produced and maintained through a logic of contingency which inserts several vectors of uncertainty and inconsistency into border enactments which ultimately hold the potential to unsettle the ontological security of those interpolated as border subjects. Drawing on interviews conducted with EU nationals, I provide an empirical illustration of experiences of the post-Brexit EU Settlement Scheme in Northern Ireland. I show how the experience of the Damoclesian border is mediated by the ontological security-providing structures and practices of those targeted, insulating some while leaving others facing profound anxiety.