The Banopticon (sometimes written as Ban-opticon) is a term coined by
Paris School
The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century.
The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...
academic
Didier Bigo Didier Bigo (born 31 August 1956) is a French academic from Lille and Professor of International Relations at King's College London and at Sciences Po, Paris. He has authored two books, ''Polices en réseaux. L'expérience européenne'' (1996) and ' ...
used within an
International Political Sociology International Political Sociology (IPS) is an interdisciplinary field and set of approaches at the crossroads of international relations theory and other disciplines such as sociology, geography and anthropology. It is structured around initiatives ...
approach to security studies to describe a situation where profiling technologies are used to determine whom to place under surveillance. The term, which is a
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[panopticon
The panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be o ...](_blank)
'', takes its name from
Michel Foucault's interpretation of the panopticon as used in ''
Discipline and Punish
''Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison'' (french: Surveiller et punir : Naissance de la prison) is a 1975 book by French philosopher Michel Foucault. It is an analysis of the social and theoretical mechanisms behind the changes tha ...
'' and the notion of ban from
international relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...
to describe a situation where observation is used as a disciplinary tool, namely by creating profiles for people and using databases to determine whether or not a person should be granted the right to move freely.
According to Bigo, the banopticon is said to have contributed towards the securitization of migration in Europe.
See also
*
International Political Sociology International Political Sociology (IPS) is an interdisciplinary field and set of approaches at the crossroads of international relations theory and other disciplines such as sociology, geography and anthropology. It is structured around initiatives ...
References
Paris School (security)
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