States of Ignorance

Christina Boswell is Professor of Politics at the University of Edinburgh and Fellow of the British Academy. Her previous books include Manufacturing Political Trust: Targets and Performance Measurement in Public Policy (Cambridge, 2018) which won the Political Studies Association prize for best book in political science and The Political Uses of Expert Knowledge: Immigration Policy and Social Research (Cambridge, 2009) which won the American Political Science Association prize for best book on ideas, knowledge and policy. Emile Chabal is a Reader in History at the University of Edinburgh. His Ph.D. won the Cambridge History Faculty's Prince Consort and Thirlwall Prize and the Seeley Medal. His publications include A Divided Republic: Nation, State and Citizenship in Contemporary France (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and France (2020).

'Based on impressive research that spans decades and countries, the authors show how state actors actively perpetuate ignorance about irregular migrants, often to serve their strategic ends. States of Ignorance is one of those rare books that makes you see the world differently.' Erik Bleich, Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College, Vermont

• Introduction. Migration control and strategies of knowledge production Christina Boswell; 1. States, knowledge, and ignorance Christina Boswell; 2. The post-war European state and (irregular) migration: a historical perspective Emile Chabal; 3. The invention of illegal immigration: constructing 'clandestine' immigrants in France and the UK Christina Boswell, Sara Casella Colombeau and Emile Chabal; 4. (Im)perfect control: the history of the German Foreigners Registry Elisabeth Badenhoop; 5. From ignorance to illegalization: the demise of the UK's non-individualized immigration control system, 1962–1971 Mike Slaven; 6. Denial, elucidation, or resignation? British and German state responses to unauthorised migrants Christina Boswell and Elisabeth Badenhoop; 7. To see or not to see: French regularisation policies and their limits Sara Casella Colombeau; 8. European integration and the leap into the unknown Christina Boswell and Sara Casella Colombeau; 9. Control infrastructures and ignorance Christina Boswell and Mike Slaven.