Universität zu Köln

Manke, Albert ORCID: 0000-0002-4703-7631 (2025). Legal Origins of the European Border Regime: Internalizing the Chinese Exclusion Act. Society, 62 (4). pp. 438-449. Springer Nature. ISSN 0147-2011

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Abstract

The current European border regime is characterized by racialized exclusion. I argue that this is the result of a process of internalization of norms whose legal origins can be traced back to the US exclusion era best known for the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. After a short introduction, I proceed in four steps. First, I describe the origin of racially motivated exclusion laws targeting Chinese and other Asian immigrants, particularly in the USA. Second, I discuss their legal perpetuation through the concomitant development of the plenary power doctrine in American and British case law. Third, I examine the transfer of the exclusion doctrine per se into contemporary international and European law and its alleged cleansing of racist bias. Fourth, I describe how these historical developments inform current legal and political decisions shaping the European border regime. The aim is to expose more clearly the contradictions between anti-discriminatory norms, such as the ones enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, and openly discriminatory legal and political practices regulating unwanted immigration. Arguably, these practices result from an internalization of racialized exclusion since the Chinese exclusion era.

Item Type:	Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Manke, Albert UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4703-7631 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-809623
Identification Number:	10.1007/s12115-025-01115-7
Journal or Publication Title:	Society
Volume:	62
Number:	4
Page Range:	pp. 438-449
Number of Pages:	12
Date:	10 August 2025
Publisher:	Springer Nature
ISSN:	0147-2011
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Global South Studies Center
Subjects:	Social sciences
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Migration ; Racism ; European Union ; Internalization of borders ; Asian exclusion ; Knowledge transfer English
['eprint_fieldname_oa_funders' not defined]:	Publikationsfonds UzK
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/80962