The Western Response to the Refugee:

The Camp as a Mechanism for the Domination of the Other and the ‘Purifcation’ of the Nation State

Abstract

Tactics used by the Western world to control risks to (inter)national security, primarily through border control and immigration policy, are critiqued as not only being grounded in the dark side of biopolitics, but also the extension of the state of exception. The ‘gates’ of Fortress Europe and other Western nations have become increasingly difficult to permeate for those deemed the Other. The creation of a hierarchy within foreigners, created to establish those who ‘belong’ from those who do not, demonstrates the Western world’s attempt to uphold the white, predominately Christian demographic. It is argued the use of biopolitics to ‘purify’ the human race places all individuals within the state of exception, resulting in the globalization of the camp.