Space of Compromise: Border Control and the Limited Inclusion of Burmese Migrants in China

Enforcement of border control has become a global trend as nation-states endeavor to regulate cross-border flows and handle security risks posed by migrants. This article analyzes the China–Myanmar border, which is hitherto neglected in the literature but undergoes innovative experimentation in border control, to complement the well-established literature on border enforcement. We draw on a theoretical framework based on the work of Gramsci in relation to hegemony and compromise. An analysis of compromise in border politics can unpack the complexity of borders and demonstrate that border control can be accomplished through means other than walls and militarization. It is found that Burmese migrant workers are economically included in and spatially limited by Chinese border cities, giving rise to a mode of limited inclusion for border control. This mode turns border cities into spaces of compromise where Burmese migrants can live and work but must endure economic exploitation, spatial confinement, and social discrimination. We argue that China’s compromise-oriented border control toward Burmese migrants offers evidence of how border can become flexible and prohibitive and be enforced through intense surveillance, policing, and fear in the border cities, instead of only at the borderline. With militarized border control remaining highly capricious and controversial, compromise-driven institutional arrangement (through the armor of coercion) to handle the tension among national security, capital accumulation, and labor supply does arguably offer an alternative but has its flaws. Key Words: border control, China–Myanmar border, compromise, hegemony, limited inclusion.