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).

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.