Benjamin Muller
Biographic Data
| ID | 3650474 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Muller |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin |
| FAMILY NAME | Muller |
| SIGNATURE | MÜLLER B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3894-7887 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 141 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The appification of borders: Data, migration and digitalization
The intersection of migration, borders, and technology has been extensively studied in critical security studies, science and technology studies, law, and beyond. This article argues for closer attention to smartphone and other apps in the growing focus on the datafication and digitalization of borders. In recent years, states have increasingly made use of apps for customs declarations, visa and residence permit applications, and even claims for …
The rise of the border apps
People on the move make extensive use of digital devices and tools. States also rely on these tools to control and channel mobility, making software an essential feature of mobility and borders. Various types of software are at the heart of maintaining traveller databases, deploying risk management tools and expediting identity checks, and migrants' use of smartphones is an increasingly salient area of analysis. Yet, the expansion of “apps,” as t…
The UN special tribunal for Lebanon (2009-2021): Who cares
More than 15 years after the assassination of Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri, the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) delivered its judgement in the Ayyash et al. Case (STL-11-01) in August 2020. Reflecting on earlier critical scholarship on the STL, this essay considers the role of the STL in the regional and global geopolitical architecture, and the domestic context, in terms of justice, politics, economy and society. Despite the devastating imp…
Collateral Damage: The Canada-US Border and President Trump’s Executive Orders
In this article, we focus on some key developments in Canada-US border relations. First, we discuss specific issues about personal information sharing and the searching of personal handheld devices at the Canada-US border, which relate to the Beyond the Border Agreement (2011). Furthermore, we consider the US-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) (2004), which although earlier, is bound up in the Beyond the Border Action Plan of 2011, and ge…
Collective Discussion: Ferocious Architecture: Sovereign Spaces/Places by Design
The authors in this collective discussion engage, disaggregate and unpack the triangulation of security, technology and architecture, across a range of contemporary spaces/places. Reflecting diverse interdisciplinary commitments and perspectives, the collective discussion considers security, technology and architecture in urban environments and global/local interfaces, borders, borderlands and ports of entry, and even the sensorium, from soundsca…
What is healthy food? Objective nutrient profile scores and subjective lay evaluations in comparison
Geopolitics, insecurity and neocolonial exceptionalism: A critical appraisal of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon
The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was set up through UN Security Council Resolution 1757 to investigate, indict and prosecute those responsible for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, is advancing a series of regional and global geopolitical interests. We focus on the structure of the tribunal and its exceptional nature within international law, examining the extent to which the STL’s so-called…
Risking it all at the Biometric Border: Mobility, Limits, and the Persistence of Securitisation1
This article considers the emerging security dispositif, particularly in terms of the growing reliance on risk, risk management, and technologies of risk in relation to contemporary border security. With the ongoing application of biometrics in the contemporary mobility regime in mind, the article argues that the use of these technologies, in combination with the widespread reliance on risk management, contributes to the re-imagination of borders…
Theatres of War: Visual Technologies and Identities in the Iraq Wars
The proliferation and development of media during the current war in Iraq and the opening of the Iraqi media landscape, which had heretofore been dampened through authoritarian state control and international isolation due to economic sanctions, has played a role in political articulation and identity formation throughout the occupation in a fashion not seen during previous conflicts. The adoption of media tools, emerging as both technology and i…
Security, Risk and the Biometric State: Governing Borders and Bodies
This book examines a series of questions associated with the increasing application and implications of biometrics in contemporary everyday life. In the wake of the events of 9/11, the reliance on increasingly sophisticated and invasive technologies across a burgeoning field of applications has accelerated, giving rise to the term 'biometric state'. This book explores how these ‘virtual borders’ are created and the effect they have upon the polit…
Unsafe at any speed? Borders, mobility and 'safe citizenship
To what extent are emerging strategies to manage and secure the US border contributing to a redesign of citizenship? This article considers the specific architecture of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the panoply of compliant programs and documents, primarily trusted traveller programs such as NEXUS, and the accompanying commitments to ‘governing through risk’ as conditions of possibility for contemporary citizenship (re)design. …
Borders, Risks, Exclusions
In this paper the border is evaluated as a fold of power relations in which sovereign capacity and competence is marshaled in the furtherance of illiberal practices. Drawing from interview data of officials in various agencies engaged in the US-Canada and particularly the Windsor-Detroit corridor, the argument is made that the border is a site for both negative and positive power, for insertion and subtraction, and that surveillance and complianc…
Securing the Political Imagination: Popular Culture, the Security Dispositif and the Biometric State
What is the relationship between popular culture and the reliance on risk management as a framework for governance in the emerging security dispositif? Furthermore, how is one to understand the influence of culture and cultural forces in relation to the emerging biometric state and the alleged security imperatives therein? This article contends that the emerging security dispositif, and the associated imaginations and cultural performances that s…
Globalization, Security, Paradox: Towards a Refugee Biopolitics
How can we think, imagine, and make authoritative claims about contemporary refugee politics? I believe this question must precede investigations into struggles/movements advocating rights and political voice for refugees. It is important to come to terms with the changing terrain of refugee politics, in order to (re)conceptualize it and provide some idea of how/where such struggles might be fought. Focusing on the colliding commitments to global…
(Dis)qualified bodies: Securitization, Citizenship and 'Identity Management
This article attempts to think citizenship politics in the international security context of a post‐September 11th world. Considering specifically the introduction of biometric technologies, the article reveals the extent to which contemporary citizenship is securitized as a part of the wider post‐September 11th ‘securitization of the inside’. This securitization contributes directly to the intensification of conventional citizenship practice, as…
Securing the Political Imagination: Popular Culture, the Security Dispositif and the Biometric State
What is the relationship between popular culture and the reliance on risk management as a framework for governance in the emerging security dispositif? Furthermore, how is one to understand the influence of culture and cultural forces in relation to the emerging biometric state and the alleged security imperatives therein? This article contends that the emerging security dispositif, and the associated imaginations and cultural performances that s…
(Dis)qualified bodies: Securitization, Citizenship and 'Identity Management
This article attempts to think citizenship politics in the international security context of a post‐September 11th world. Considering specifically the introduction of biometric technologies, the article reveals the extent to which contemporary citizenship is securitized as a part of the wider post‐September 11th ‘securitization of the inside’. This securitization contributes directly to the intensification of conventional citizenship practice, as…
Risking it all at the Biometric Border: Mobility, Limits, and the Persistence of Securitisation1
This article considers the emerging security dispositif, particularly in terms of the growing reliance on risk, risk management, and technologies of risk in relation to contemporary border security. With the ongoing application of biometrics in the contemporary mobility regime in mind, the article argues that the use of these technologies, in combination with the widespread reliance on risk management, contributes to the re-imagination of borders…
Collective Discussion: Ferocious Architecture: Sovereign Spaces/Places by Design
The authors in this collective discussion engage, disaggregate and unpack the triangulation of security, technology and architecture, across a range of contemporary spaces/places. Reflecting diverse interdisciplinary commitments and perspectives, the collective discussion considers security, technology and architecture in urban environments and global/local interfaces, borders, borderlands and ports of entry, and even the sensorium, from soundsca…
What is healthy food? Objective nutrient profile scores and subjective lay evaluations in comparison
Globalization, Security, Paradox: Towards a Refugee Biopolitics
How can we think, imagine, and make authoritative claims about contemporary refugee politics? I believe this question must precede investigations into struggles/movements advocating rights and political voice for refugees. It is important to come to terms with the changing terrain of refugee politics, in order to (re)conceptualize it and provide some idea of how/where such struggles might be fought. Focusing on the colliding commitments to global…
Unsafe at any speed? Borders, mobility and 'safe citizenship
To what extent are emerging strategies to manage and secure the US border contributing to a redesign of citizenship? This article considers the specific architecture of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the panoply of compliant programs and documents, primarily trusted traveller programs such as NEXUS, and the accompanying commitments to ‘governing through risk’ as conditions of possibility for contemporary citizenship (re)design. …
Geopolitics, insecurity and neocolonial exceptionalism: A critical appraisal of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon
The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was set up through UN Security Council Resolution 1757 to investigate, indict and prosecute those responsible for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, is advancing a series of regional and global geopolitical interests. We focus on the structure of the tribunal and its exceptional nature within international law, examining the extent to which the STL’s so-called…
Borders, Risks, Exclusions
In this paper the border is evaluated as a fold of power relations in which sovereign capacity and competence is marshaled in the furtherance of illiberal practices. Drawing from interview data of officials in various agencies engaged in the US-Canada and particularly the Windsor-Detroit corridor, the argument is made that the border is a site for both negative and positive power, for insertion and subtraction, and that surveillance and complianc…
The rise of the border apps
People on the move make extensive use of digital devices and tools. States also rely on these tools to control and channel mobility, making software an essential feature of mobility and borders. Various types of software are at the heart of maintaining traveller databases, deploying risk management tools and expediting identity checks, and migrants' use of smartphones is an increasingly salient area of analysis. Yet, the expansion of “apps,” as t…
Theatres of War: Visual Technologies and Identities in the Iraq Wars
The proliferation and development of media during the current war in Iraq and the opening of the Iraqi media landscape, which had heretofore been dampened through authoritarian state control and international isolation due to economic sanctions, has played a role in political articulation and identity formation throughout the occupation in a fashion not seen during previous conflicts. The adoption of media tools, emerging as both technology and i…
Globalization, Security, Paradox: Towards a Refugee Biopolitics
How can we think, imagine, and make authoritative claims about contemporary refugee politics? I believe this question must precede investigations into struggles/movements advocating rights and political voice for refugees. It is important to come to terms with the changing terrain of refugee politics, in order to (re)conceptualize it and provide some idea of how/where such struggles might be fought. Focusing on the colliding commitments to global…
(Dis)qualified bodies: Securitization, Citizenship and 'Identity Management
This article attempts to think citizenship politics in the international security context of a post‐September 11th world. Considering specifically the introduction of biometric technologies, the article reveals the extent to which contemporary citizenship is securitized as a part of the wider post‐September 11th ‘securitization of the inside’. This securitization contributes directly to the intensification of conventional citizenship practice, as…
Securing the Political Imagination: Popular Culture, the Security Dispositif and the Biometric State
What is the relationship between popular culture and the reliance on risk management as a framework for governance in the emerging security dispositif? Furthermore, how is one to understand the influence of culture and cultural forces in relation to the emerging biometric state and the alleged security imperatives therein? This article contends that the emerging security dispositif, and the associated imaginations and cultural performances that s…
Borders, Risks, Exclusions
In this paper the border is evaluated as a fold of power relations in which sovereign capacity and competence is marshaled in the furtherance of illiberal practices. Drawing from interview data of officials in various agencies engaged in the US-Canada and particularly the Windsor-Detroit corridor, the argument is made that the border is a site for both negative and positive power, for insertion and subtraction, and that surveillance and complianc…
Security, Risk and the Biometric State: Governing Borders and Bodies
This book examines a series of questions associated with the increasing application and implications of biometrics in contemporary everyday life. In the wake of the events of 9/11, the reliance on increasingly sophisticated and invasive technologies across a burgeoning field of applications has accelerated, giving rise to the term 'biometric state'. This book explores how these ‘virtual borders’ are created and the effect they have upon the polit…
Unsafe at any speed? Borders, mobility and 'safe citizenship
To what extent are emerging strategies to manage and secure the US border contributing to a redesign of citizenship? This article considers the specific architecture of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), the panoply of compliant programs and documents, primarily trusted traveller programs such as NEXUS, and the accompanying commitments to ‘governing through risk’ as conditions of possibility for contemporary citizenship (re)design. …
Risking it all at the Biometric Border: Mobility, Limits, and the Persistence of Securitisation1
This article considers the emerging security dispositif, particularly in terms of the growing reliance on risk, risk management, and technologies of risk in relation to contemporary border security. With the ongoing application of biometrics in the contemporary mobility regime in mind, the article argues that the use of these technologies, in combination with the widespread reliance on risk management, contributes to the re-imagination of borders…
Theatres of War: Visual Technologies and Identities in the Iraq Wars
The proliferation and development of media during the current war in Iraq and the opening of the Iraqi media landscape, which had heretofore been dampened through authoritarian state control and international isolation due to economic sanctions, has played a role in political articulation and identity formation throughout the occupation in a fashion not seen during previous conflicts. The adoption of media tools, emerging as both technology and i…
Geopolitics, insecurity and neocolonial exceptionalism: A critical appraisal of the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon
The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was set up through UN Security Council Resolution 1757 to investigate, indict and prosecute those responsible for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, is advancing a series of regional and global geopolitical interests. We focus on the structure of the tribunal and its exceptional nature within international law, examining the extent to which the STL’s so-called…
What is healthy food? Objective nutrient profile scores and subjective lay evaluations in comparison
Collective Discussion: Ferocious Architecture: Sovereign Spaces/Places by Design
The authors in this collective discussion engage, disaggregate and unpack the triangulation of security, technology and architecture, across a range of contemporary spaces/places. Reflecting diverse interdisciplinary commitments and perspectives, the collective discussion considers security, technology and architecture in urban environments and global/local interfaces, borders, borderlands and ports of entry, and even the sensorium, from soundsca…
Collateral Damage: The Canada-US Border and President Trump’s Executive Orders
In this article, we focus on some key developments in Canada-US border relations. First, we discuss specific issues about personal information sharing and the searching of personal handheld devices at the Canada-US border, which relate to the Beyond the Border Agreement (2011). Furthermore, we consider the US-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) (2004), which although earlier, is bound up in the Beyond the Border Action Plan of 2011, and ge…
The UN special tribunal for Lebanon (2009-2021): Who cares
More than 15 years after the assassination of Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri, the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) delivered its judgement in the Ayyash et al. Case (STL-11-01) in August 2020. Reflecting on earlier critical scholarship on the STL, this essay considers the role of the STL in the regional and global geopolitical architecture, and the domestic context, in terms of justice, politics, economy and society. Despite the devastating imp…
The rise of the border apps
People on the move make extensive use of digital devices and tools. States also rely on these tools to control and channel mobility, making software an essential feature of mobility and borders. Various types of software are at the heart of maintaining traveller databases, deploying risk management tools and expediting identity checks, and migrants' use of smartphones is an increasingly salient area of analysis. Yet, the expansion of “apps,” as t…
The appification of borders: Data, migration and digitalization
The intersection of migration, borders, and technology has been extensively studied in critical security studies, science and technology studies, law, and beyond. This article argues for closer attention to smartphone and other apps in the growing focus on the datafication and digitalization of borders. In recent years, states have increasingly made use of apps for customs declarations, visa and residence permit applications, and even claims for …
Political science (13 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Global Security and Public Health (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Computer security (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Migration, Refugees, and Integration (5 works) · Biometrics (3 works)