Hoffmann, Sophia (2011) Disciplining Movement: State Sovereignty in the Context of Iraqi Migration to Syria
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Hoffmann, Sophia (2011) Disciplining Movement: State Sovereignty in the Context of Iraqi Migration to Syria. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/14571 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Disciplining movement: State sovereignty in the context of Iraqi migration to Syria Sophia Hoffmann This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Oriental & African Studies University of London 2011 1 Declaration I declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. All sources have been indicated in the footnotes and all assistance has been acknowledged. All errors remain mine. Signature 2 Abstract In most academic writing on state sovereignty, it is considered as a special, abstract form of independent power. This thesis considers sovereignty from a historical and anthropological perspective, arguing that it is a certain form of social and political organisation through which the state’s power is performed and maintained as natural. This organisation and maintenance rests on particular, powerful ideas, for example on the assumed unity of territory, government and population, and on certain values about what constitutes politics and a fulfilled human life. By analysing the management of Iraqi migrants in Damascus through state and humanitarian institutions, this thesis shows the daily-life bureaucratic and violent practices through which state sovereignty became a reality in this context. The analysis emphasises that state sovereignty exists as an imagined ‘ideal’, as reflected in international law or world maps, and as a much more complex, context-dependant, lived reality. The differences between the way that humanitarian agencies considered Iraqi migrants from the perspective of the ‘ideal’, and the way Syrian state institutions governed Iraqi migrants according to very different standards, highlighted this distinction. Methodologically, this thesis calls for, and attempts to provide, a hermeneutic approach to social inquiry, in which empirical evidence underpins arguments about theory. Ethnography and interviews in Syria were used to collect in-depth information about the lives of Iraqi migrants, and the interventions and programmes through which Iraqi migration was being managed, in 2009 and 2010. 3 Table of Contents Chapter 1 State Sovereignty in the academic Literature 8 The classic approach to sovereignty: locating and justifying absolute power 16 Modern and postmodern explanations of sovereignty 20 Sovereignty, migration and ethnography 24 The exclusion of sovereignty 29 Sovereignty in everyday life 33 Questions of method 37 Conclusion 43 Chapter 2 Damascus, Iraqi Migrants and the Researcher’s Position in the Field 47 The cityscape of Damascus 48 The socialscape of Damascus 56 Iraqi as refugees, migrants and guests in Damascus 64 Reflexivity and positionality 70 Conclusion 75 Chapter Three The States on Syrian Territory I: Syria 78 Syrian state sovereignty in the context of post2003 Iraqi migration 82 Constructing domestic sovereignty: Syrian state agents and Iraqis 84 Constructing international sovereignty: Syrian state agents and international actors 96 Conclusion 111 Chapter 4 The humanitarian Regime of Sovereignty I: UNHCR in Syria 114 An overview of UNHCR’s operations in Damascus 117 UNHCR’s Resettlement Programme 128 UNHCR’s Humanitarian Programmes 139 Violent and nonviolent techniques in UNHCR programmes 146 Conclusion 150 Chapter 5 The humanitarian Regime of Sovereignty II: INGOs and Iraqi Migration to Syria 152 Another consequence of the invasion of Iraq: INGOs in Damascus 155 Professional humanitarian INGOs 158 Semiofficial and unofficial INGOs 170 Conclusion 182 Chapter 6 The States on Syrian Territory II: the ‘international Community’ and Iraqi Migration to Syria 186 Foreign states’ involvement in managing Iraqi migration to Syria 189 Germany and Iraqi migration 196 The US and Iraqi migration 204 Conclusion 212 Chapter 7 Migrants, Refugees, Citizens, People: Iraqis in Syria 215 Conformity 217 Contestation 224 Deception and disobedience 232 Conclusion 242 Chapter 8 Conclusion 247 Bibliography 259 4 Acknowledgements During the approximately three years that the development, research and writing of this thesis took, I received intellectual, financial and moral support from many sides. First and foremost I would like to mention the unfailing energy and presence of my supervisor Dr. Laleh Khalili. Laleh agreed to supervise my PhD idea in our first meeting, during which her insightful commentary and decisive intellectual force eradicated any remaining doubt in my mind about embarking on this adventure. Always at hand with inspiring literature recommendations, dispensing solace, enthusiasm or strictness as needed and helping me structure muddled ideas into an orderly argument, Laleh has simply been an amazing supervisor and pillar of support. Thank you Laleh! The fieldwork for this thesis was financially supported by the Council for British Research in the Levant, and the Central Research Fund of the University of London. The CBRL awarded me a Junior Fellowship and provided a platform at their centre in Amman to present my first research results. The CSR, now sadly suspended due to governmental cuts to education funds, paid for my travel and rented accommodation in Damascus. To both institutions I am grateful. A number of people read early drafts of chapters and gave feedback, or served as sounding boards for burgeoning arguments and ideas. In particular I would like to thank my second supervisors Professor Charles Tripp and Dr. Arshin Adib- Moghaddam, as well as Professor Christopher Coker, Dr. Benjamin Zeitlyn, Martine Zeuthen, Dr. Daniel Neep, Erik Mohns, Dr. Geraldine Chatelard, Ali Ali, Tahir Zaman and Diane Duclos, who all gave time and thought to comment and discuss. Conducting ethnographic fieldwork is never an easy task and I could not have carried it out without the many, generous people in Damascus, who arranged contacts, gave interviews or allowed me to participate in their lives and/or organisations. Many of you were already or became friends, and without the many happy hours spent talking, laughing, travelling and eating together, fieldwork would have been dismal. Circumstances prevent me from naming names, but those of you who read this know who you are. Thank you. 5 For his unfailing and borderless love, his happiness and energy, his ambition, his surprises and his belief in me I wish to thank my wonderful husband Theodore Murphy, who buoyed and energised me throughout the PhD. I feel deeply grateful and wildly lucky to have found your companionship Theo, and I look forward to many more adventures together! My brother, Lorenz and my parents Reimer and Heidrun as always gave their consistent love and care, always ready to speak on the phone, be it to London, Damascus, Amman or Geneva. They surprised with thoughtful and generous gifts and, together with my grandparents, provided a crucial backbone of familiar relationships that has kept me confident and happy since a very early age, and during this PhD. I thank them deeply. Finally, I wish to extend a big hug and a big thank you to my network of friends in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the rest of the world, for keeping me social, happy, loved and well fed and for sharing with me the stories of their lives. Without all of you, this PhD process would have been a struggle, instead of a pleasure. 6 Note on Translation and Transliteration This thesis follows the Arabic transliteration rules from the International Journal of Middle East Studies. Whenever well-known English names were available for place names, the names of persons or names of institutions these have been used. Certain colloquial phrases particular to the Syrian dialect, such as the French word serviis used for a collective taxi, have been transliterated to approximate their local pronunciation. All translations from Arabic are my own. 7 Chapter 1 State Sovereignty in the academic Literature This thesis analyses the social production of state sovereignty in a particular setting, that of Iraqi migration to Syria. Its analysis draws on international relations and political theory, anthropology, historical sociology, human geography and regional and migration studies. Ethnographic data collected during long-term field research provides the empirical base. This multi-disciplinary approach has a clear goal: to combine theoretical and empirical investigation in order to answer the key research question: how was state sovereignty maintained as an idea and as a lived experience in the management of Iraqi migration to Syria? The ethnographic fieldwork conducted for this study necessarily localizes it in a particular, geographical place, that of Damascus, Syria. However the international interventions taking place in the field of Iraqi