The London School of Economics & Political Science From Frontiers to Borders The Origins and Consequences of Linear Borders in International Politics Kerry Goettlich A Thesis Submitted to the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics & Political Science for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, January 2019 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 99,883 words. Statement of Inclusion of Previous Work I can confirm that sections of chapters 2 and 3 are published in Kerry Goettlich, ‘The rise of linear borders in world politics’, European Journal of International Relations, advance online publication, doi:10.1177/1354066118760991, first published March 16, 2018. 2 Abstract This thesis offers a theoretical analysis of the process by which borders have come to be precise, fixed, mappable, and infinitely thin lines traced over the surface of the earth. I argue that accounts of global modernity should understand the linearization of borders as a process related to, but relatively autonomous from processes of state formation and other structures and processes typically associated with global modernity. In other words, linear borders have their own causes and consequences, which the thesis aims to unpack. The contribution of the thesis lies within debates on the historical origins of modern international relations which often overlook the history of borders through a focus on sovereignty. The thesis theorizes modern linear borders as an outcome of ‘survey rationality’, drawing on theories of rationalization. Survey rationality is a mode of territorial governance which conceives of the location of predefined borders as a technical and non-political question, and therefore susceptible to measurement and calculation through surveys and other technologies. The central argument of the thesis is that survey rationality on its own is not a natural or necessary part of territorial rule, but must be articulated with other historically particular rationalities in order to be effective in practice. I illustrate this argument historically by examining two such historically particular rationalities: first, the logic of agrarian capitalism in the English colonies of North America, and secondly, the logic of the civilizing mission in the ‘Scramble for Africa’. Finally, I show how international politics are different in a world of formally linearized borders. Linear borders underpin hierarchies by altering the distribution of geographical knowledge resources, for example at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and they contribute to a modular pattern of territorial partition, from Mysore and Poland in the 18th century to Vietnam and Korea in the 20th. 3 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................................... 5 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 6 THE THESIS AND ITS OUTLINE................................................................................................................... 15 2. DEFINING THE PROBLEM: THE RELATIVE AUTONOMY OF BORDERS ................................................ 21 TERRITORY IN IR, SEEN THROUGH LEFEBVRE’S TRIAD ..................................................................................... 22 THE TROUBLE WITH ‘TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY’ ......................................................................................... 29 THE LINEARIZATION OF BORDERS AS AN AUTONOMOUS PROCESS: CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW AND TIMELINE................. 36 3. SURVEY RATIONALITY AND ITS ARTICULATIONS .............................................................................. 44 THE LINEARIZATION OF BORDERS AS RATIONALIZATION .................................................................................. 44 THE CORE ARGUMENT: MULTIPLE RATIONALITIES, ARTICULATION, AND CHANGE ................................................. 58 THE CONSEQUENCES OF SPATIAL RATIONALIZATION ...................................................................................... 68 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 75 4. AGRARIAN CAPITALISM AND THE SURVEYOR .................................................................................. 77 THE ORIGINS OF MODERN TERRITORIALITY: METROPOLITAN OR COLONIAL? ....................................................... 79 FROM GEOMETRIC COSMOLOGY TO SURVEY RATIONALITY .............................................................................. 82 SURVEY RATIONALITY IN THE ENGLISH ENCLOSURE MOVEMENT ....................................................................... 87 SURVEY RATIONALITY AND ANGLO-AMERICAN SETTLER SOCIETY ...................................................................... 96 LINEAR BOUNDARIES: THE COLONIAL INFLECTION OF ENCLOSURE ................................................................... 103 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 114 5. THE LOGIC OF ‘CIVILIZATION’ ......................................................................................................... 117 BRITISH INDIA .................................................................................................................................... 120 THE LINEARIZATION OF BORDERS IN WEST AFRICA ...................................................................................... 128 ‘CIVILIZED’ LAND-APPROPRIATION: SOCIAL THEORY AND THE EMERGING INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PROFESSION ........... 135 COLONIAL TREATIES: NECESSARY BUT NO LONGER SUFFICIENT ...................................................................... 145 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 153 6. THE TECHNO-POLITICS OF TERRITORY............................................................................................ 155 THE COLONIAL ORIGINS OF THE SCIENTIFIC FRONTIER .................................................................................. 157 THOMAS HOLDICH AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC FRONTIER THROUGH SURVEY PRACTICES ............. 159 FROM REASON OF STATE TO REASON OF SCIENCE: THE POLITICS OF SCIENTIFIC GEOGRAPHY ................................. 165 COLONIAL REFLECTION: SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS AT THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE .............................................. 173 ITALY’S SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS................................................................................................................ 179 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 188 7. A GENEALOGY OF PARTITION ........................................................................................................ 191 PARTITIONS OF COOPERATIVE TERRITORIAL EXPANSION, 1772-1904 ............................................................. 193 PARTITION, 1905-1948: DIVIDE AND FEDERATE ....................................................................................... 203 THE COLD WAR PARTITIONS: GERMANY, KOREA, VIETNAM .......................................................................... 216 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 229 8. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 231 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 244 4 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Tarak Barkawi, who is an inexhaustible source of scholarly advice and support of all kinds. I want to thank him for relentlessly, but still somehow barely perceptively, pushing me to take on big questions I might not have otherwise dared to ask. This thesis would look very different if not for him. I have been lucky to be part of an exceptional research community at the LSE IR Department. Successive years of the International Theory Workshop have made for a rich environment through which to enter the academic profession, and I owe thanks to my co-editors at Millennium, Sarah Bertrand and Chris Murray for being ideal teammates. Thanks to them and my other fellow students, the PhD has hardly seemed an isolating experience, whether socially or intellectually: Kelly-Jo Bluen, Ilaria Carrozza, Mia Certo, Ida Danewid, Nicola Degli Esposti, Scott Hamilton, Marnie Howlett, Marissa Kemp, Joe Leigh, Jackie Majnemer, Gustav Meibauer, Aaron McKeil,