Chaos and Crisis: Dissecting the Spatiotemporal Logics of Contemporary Migrations and State Practices

Discussions of chaos and crisis feature prominently in contemporary literature on the nation-state, globalization, security, and neoliberalism. In scholarship, policy, and public discourse on global migration, references to chaos and crisis abound and yet have not received sustained critical inquiry. In this article, we examine why these alarmist terms emerge so frequently, scrutinizing in particular what is relayed about the contemporary “state” of migration and its new geographical expressions. We take the recurrent discourse of chaos and crisis as our starting point, with the goal of delving more deeply into the logics driving their mobilization. We analyze when and where these discourses become prominent and trace key moments when migrants become securitized (the border crossing, the detention center, the deportation). This examination of the spatiotemporal logics of chaos and crisis advances understandings of the often contradictory efforts by nation-states to facilitate mobility and containment. We argue that states mobilize constructions of chaos and crisis to create exceptional moments in which sovereign reach and geopolitical influence are expanded. By analyzing the use of these discourses as tools, the article provides insight to the relationship between migration and state power.