- www.mblongo.com
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Matthew Longo
Leiden University, Political Science, Faculty Member
- University of Oxford, Department of Politics and International Relations, Post-DocYale University, Political Science, Graduate Studentadd
- My name is Matthew Longo, and I am Assistant Professor of Political Science at Leiden University. Prior to this I was... moreMy name is Matthew Longo, and I am Assistant Professor of Political Science at Leiden University. Prior to this I was the Clayman Junior Research Fellowship in Politics and Political Ideas at St. Anne's College, Oxford (2014-2017). I was awarded a PhD in Political Science in 2014 from Yale University (with distinction).edit
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Critical Exchange with Bernardo Zacka, Brooke Ackerly, Jacob Elster, Signy Gutnick-Allen, Humeira Iqtidar and Paul Sagar.
Should political theorists engage in ethnography? In this letter, we assess a recent wave of interest in ethnography among political theorists and explain why it is a good thing. We focus, in particular, on how ethnographic research... more
Should political theorists engage in ethnography? In this letter, we assess a recent wave of interest in ethnography among political theorists and explain why it is a good thing. We focus, in particular, on how ethnographic research generates what Ian Shapiro calls "problematizing redescriptions"-accounts of political phenomena that destabilize the lens through which we traditionally study them, engendering novel questions and exposing new avenues of moral concern. We argue that (1) by revealing new levels of variation and contingency within familiar political phenomena, ethnography can uncover topics ripe for normative inquiry; (2) by shedding light on what meanings people associate with political values, it can advance our reflection on concepts; and (3) by capturing the experience of individuals at grips with the social world, it can attune us to forms of harm that would otherwise remain hidden. The purchase for political theory is considerable. By thickening our understanding of institutions, ethnography serves as an antidote to analytic specialization and broadens the range of questions political theorists can ask, reinvigorating debates in the subfield and forging connections with the discipline writ large.
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Borders sit at the center of global politics. Yet they are too often understood as thin lines, as they appear on maps, rather than as political institutions in their own right. This book takes a detailed look at the evolution of border... more
Borders sit at the center of global politics. Yet they are too often understood as thin lines, as they appear on maps, rather than as political institutions in their own right. This book takes a detailed look at the evolution of border security in the United States after 9/11. Far from the walls and fences that dominate the news, it reveals borders to be thick, multi-faceted and binational institutions that have evolved greatly in recent decades. The book contributes to debates within political science on sovereignty, citizenship, cosmopolitanism, human rights and global justice. In particular, the new politics of borders reveal a sovereignty that is not waning, but changing, expanding beyond the state carapace and engaging certain logics of empire.
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Borders are changing in myriad and multifaceted ways. After 9/11, states redoubled efforts at shoring up their perimeters and building walls. But borders are not merely increasingly securitized, they are also becoming thicker and... more
Borders are changing in myriad and multifaceted ways. After 9/11, states redoubled efforts at shoring up their perimeters and building walls. But borders are not merely increasingly securitized, they are also becoming thicker and bi-national. This new ‘zonal’ border emerging worldwide radically shifts the debate about borders and sovereignty. If sovereignty is indivisible, unitary and final, how can it be shared between states at their mutual perimeters? Is this really evidence of sovereignty waning? In this article, I suggest we are stuck at this conceptual impasse because of two conflations. The first one involves two aspects of sovereignty: authority and control. Looking at borders as thin jurisdictional lines, we observe only their legal authority (de jure); instead, by examining changing modes of control, we can see how new securitized borders actually reinforce state strength. The second conflation revolves around the conceptual linking of borders, states and sovereignty. This article argues that as borders thicken, they start to resemble frontiers, and sovereignty starts to resemble imperium – a Roman designation for political authority that is territorially unbounded. This disrupts the border/state dyad and situates borders (lines) and frontiers (zones) on a continuum. In doing so, it reveals how sovereignty is not waning, but changing shape – a worrisome geopolitical conclusion given the possibilities of neo-Imperialism due to power asymmetries between neighbouring states.
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Does nonviolent repression prompt subject groups to obey or rebel? By what mechanism does it do so? To address these questions, we exploit a natural experiment based on a 2009 policy toward the “easement” of checkpoints—nonviolent... more
Does nonviolent repression prompt subject groups to obey or rebel? By what mechanism does it do so? To address these questions, we exploit a natural experiment based on a 2009 policy toward the “easement” of checkpoints—nonviolent impediments to movement—in the West Bank. We sample populations across 17 villages (n = 599), beside one checkpoint slated for easement (treatment) and one that will undergo no change (control), before and after the intervention. We then pursue difference-in-difference estimation. This design is experimental, as easement was orthogonal to Palestinian attitudes; for robustness, we test our findings against an independent panel (n = 1,200). We find that easement makes subject populations less likely to support violence; we suggest humiliation as the mechanism bridging nonviolent repression with militancy. This warrants rethinking Israeli security policy, as short-term concerns over Palestinian mobility may be compromising Israel's long-term interests. By extension, checkpoint easement may positively affect peace negotiations.
Since September 11, 2001 there has been redoubled interest in border security. This article examines trends in bordering in the US after 9/11, following two landmark agreements, the Beyond the Border Agreement with Canada (2011) and the... more
Since September 11, 2001 there has been redoubled interest in border security. This article examines trends in bordering in the US after 9/11, following two landmark agreements, the Beyond the Border Agreement with Canada (2011) and the 21st century Border Management Accord with Mexico (2010). This research reveals how US borders are getting thicker and are increasingly bi-national. First, borders are getting thicker infrastructurally, both in terms of their expansion inland and via increased surveillance. In this way, borderlines are expanding into zones. Second, there is a concomitant move towards the co-location and cross-designation of border forces across the border, thus making borders jointly-administered. These developments mirror a similar shift in thinking at the external frontier of the EU. In this way, contemporary bordering practice at the US perimeter is participant to a larger global trend of neighboring states behaving as partners in a joint effort at eliminating threats common to globalized mobility—immigrants, smugglers, terrorists—rather than adversaries linked by a thin line of truce. The article concludes by considering how the 21st century Border is not merely a space where states decide to “re-border,” but rather co-border.
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Border dwellers in the US and Mexico are subject to two authorities. It’s only fair to give them the cross-border rights and permissions to match.
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A "global firewall" is redrawing lines between countries-and people
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... Glava is a notorious nationalist who first came into conflict with the party for declaring GeneralGotovina a hero, walking out of parliament, and refusing ... Zeljka Bilandzija, Reality Check for Croatian Conservatives in Local... more
... Glava is a notorious nationalist who first came into conflict with the party for declaring GeneralGotovina a hero, walking out of parliament, and refusing ... Zeljka Bilandzija, Reality Check for Croatian Conservatives in Local Polls, Agence France-Presse in English (May 13, 2005 ...
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Should political theorists engage in ethnography? In this letter, we assess a recent wave of interest in ethnography among political theorists and explain why it is a good thing. We focus, in particular, on how ethnographic research... more
Should political theorists engage in ethnography? In this letter, we assess a recent wave of interest in ethnography among political theorists and explain why it is a good thing. We focus, in particular, on how ethnographic research generates what Ian Shapiro calls “problematizing redescriptions”—accounts of political phenomena that destabilize the lens through which we traditionally study them, engendering novel questions and exposing new avenues of moral concern. We argue that (1) by revealing new levels of variation and contingency within familiar political phenomena, ethnography can uncover topics ripe for normative inquiry; (2) by shedding light on what meanings people associate with political values, it can advance our reflection on concepts; and (3) by capturing the experience of individuals at grips with the social world, it can attune us to forms of harm that would otherwise remain hidden. The purchase for political theory is considerable. By thickening our understanding of...
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ABSTRACT This article examines the role of armed parties in democratization. Usually considered volatile and thus excluded from the democratic process, we argue instead that in certain circumstances, armed parties can have a productive... more
ABSTRACT This article examines the role of armed parties in democratization. Usually considered volatile and thus excluded from the democratic process, we argue instead that in certain circumstances, armed parties can have a productive role in elections aimed at democratization – most notably by contributing to the balance of power between incumbents and opposition, both before, during and after elections. An in-depth analysis of the 2006 Palestinian elections, placed in comparative context, shows how arms affect the calculus of voters, opposition elites, and incumbents to make elections more competitive and democracy more likely. The article then directly addresses the objection that postponing disarmament fosters civil war, arguing rather that postponing disarmament may actually help promote peaceful, democratic outcomes of states emerging from civil war. It concludes by discussing the implication of the analysis for the study of democratization and for policies aimed at democracy promotion.