How did modern territoriality emerge and what are its consequences? This book examines these key questions with a unique global perspective. Kerry Goettlich argues that linear boundaries are products of particular colonial encounters, rather than being essentially an intra-European practice artificially imposed on colonized regions. He reconceptualizes modern territoriality as a phenomenon separate from sovereignty and the state, based on expert practices of delimitation and demarcation. Its history stems from the social production of expertise oriented towards these practices. Employing both primary and secondary sources, From Frontiers to Borders examines how this expertise emerged in settler colonies in North America and in British India – cases which illuminate a range of different types of colonial rule and influence. It also explores some of the consequences of the globalization of modern territoriality, exposing the colonial origins of Boundary Studies, and the impact of boundary experts on the Paris Peace Conference of 1919–20.

‘In this rich and thought-provoking book, Kerry Goettlich traces the genealogy of linear borders between states back to the colonial origins of the practices of territorial delimitation and demarcation and their problematic legacies in international politics. Shifting the focus away from territoriality as but an aspect of state sovereignty, Goettlich provides a fresh and innovative take on an issue that has haunted the study of international relations for decades.'

Jens Bartelson - Professor of Political Science, Lund University

‘From Frontiers to Borders turns conventional wisdom on its head. Contrary to the perspective that the concept of modern territoriality emanated from Europe, Kerry Goettlich shows how technical, cartographic practices in the colonies influenced spatial imagination in the imperial metropoles. In so doing he exposes the artificiality of territorial claims in general. Anyone interested in how we think about territory and borders should read this insightful book.'

Hendrik Spruyt - Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Norman Dwight Harris Chair Emeritus in International Relations, Northwestern University