borderline projections

Borders define the physical boundaries of a legal system, such as a government or a state. Most of these political entities have a way to control the movement of people and goods across borders. Under international law, all countries may define their own conditions for enabling or disabling this movement. The development of nationalism was closely related to that of the modern state, and is today associated with the autonomy of a nation and the right to inclusion and therefore exclusion of a certain nationality. Despite the increasing international activity of the latter half of the last century (such as the development of the United Nations), nation sovereignty has only intensified. (Hiebert: Borderless World, 2003)

However, inclusion and exclusion of people, it may be argued, would be present in the absence of nations and national borders. The privileged will separate themselves from the underprivileged on other scales than national, to fill the power vacuum that a world without national borders would leave. It is also questionable how long welfare states would cope with an accompanying influx of migrating populations.

The current exploitation, however, that accompanies those lacking in citizenship, seems to be on the rise. (Bauder: How Migration Regulates Labor Markets, 2006) This process, aside from being inhumane, is also imperceptible to a larger public. The current national and transnational organizations that manage migration do not attempt to publicize self activity of migrants and prefer it as an unhealthy phenomena, rather than consequence of poor economic or political circumstances. (Scott: Seeing Like A State, 1998)

Often migration may be a result of the foreign policies of the countries that actively exclude immigrants. In the case of Burma and the sanctions on its tyrannic government, there are now even more people fleeing the country no longer out of political convictions but also for economic necessity. And, since according to data of the UNHCR of the 12 million people fleeing political or economical disaster the majority is in a neighboring country, these refugees are not knocking on the doors of the countries sanctioning their government, but rather on the doors of Thailand. Refugees are forced to cross borders that don't come close to representing current ethnic boundaries. Burma contains a 60% Burman majority but a 40% ethnic minority. These minorities all have their own independence movements (Arakan League for Democracy, Chin National League for Democracy, Kachin Independence Movement, Shan National League for Democracy, Karen National Union, Mon National Democratic Front), resulting in political instability in all six major ethnic states, an added effect of the western imposed national border.

Thailand, as a country that refused to sign the UNHCR convention for the rights of the refugee of 1951, has adopted the modernistic 'temporary' solution of the camp. A solution that as a results costs the international donor community 15 million dollars annually, distributed via an umbrella NGO, the TBBC. The circumstances have caused the majority of this money to go into UNHCR research and security.

The 15 million dollars are spent on 150,000 official UNCR registered refugees. As the money is not enough to feed all, the rest of the 2 million displaced Burmese in Thailand have taken matters into their own hands and operate between the laws with pending work permits, or without any legal status at all.

Border areas are economically often interesting as government are increasingly introducing the formal practice of free trade zones. On an informal level, the movement of goods across the border requires the payment of taxes creating corruption, as well as differences in jurisdiction between two nations may create spaces where special opportunities allow for smuggling, and fuzziness of legalities and regulation.

Free trade zones are regional initiatives, often implemented for the development of cross border regions. The fact that it allows a more efficient allocation of resources, causes lower prices, more employment, more output and as a result a higher standard of living for those benefitting from the employment. However, the economic differences between two countries become very apparent and in border regions and are often exploited. The decreased protection for weaker nations by stronger ones has resulted in this exploitation. Companies from industrialized nations are able to provide just enough salary to motivate workers to labor extreme hours under extreme conditions, as they must operate in a competitive market.

In the case of Burma, it's labor force as well as its rich resources are being sent into the global market via its border zone with Thailand. This zone provides a connection of the Burmese refuge seeking population to the globalized world through communication and trade. Designing an architecture that reflects all these spatial complexities may hold a mirror to the current global political trends. In this way architecture can be a critique of political processes by projecting a materialization of the self activity of those most effected by them. The choices of the migrant will be visualized through the resulting building.