ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the control technology around the passport from three closely intertwined perspectives: the normative perspective of a society and its subjects. It details the the emergence and implementation of this technology; local practices of control and communication, with a particular emphasis on the role of urban centres; and finally, the cultural knowledge required to master this technology vis-a-vis the people on the move. It explores the second half of the nineteenth century when European states took a different, more liberal view of mobility. Mobility of respectable citizens was now viewed positively as an important part of economic, social, and political integration. The chapter looks forward to the twentieth century when the introduction of biometrical identification technologies was contemplated. Passports were needed only for travelling abroad and for foreigners to enter the Monarchy. German and Austrian police officers were strongly engaged in the control of repeat offenders as delinquents.