ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes the “border question” as a point of entry for discusses the connections between state territories and effective sovereignty. It examines the ways in which national-state territories are conceives of and put into practice as culturally and politically homogeneous spaces rather than simply spaces for dwelling or living. The chapter focuses on the distinction between dwelling spaces and geopolitical spaces. The humanitarian border encapsulates the move from seeing borders exclusively in terms of geopolitical space to considering them as openings for dwelling space. Particularly when significant income gradients exist between neighboring countries and labor demand on the wealthy side is increasing, there will always be some incentive for cross-border flows of people, even if only on a temporary basis. Addressing border deficits requires neither walls nor pretending that complete openness is a real option. Dwelling space can be at home as well as abroad.
