Modern states have only recently monopolised the authority to control movement across territories. Prior to this, checkpoints helped rulers assert jurisdiction over territories and finance their claims to power by concentrating control over strategic passage points along key trade routes. Today, struggles over mobility are central to livelihoods and wealth in postcolonial contexts, where displacement, and extracting payments from the flow of goods, cattle, and migrants, sustain and fuel conflict. Research shows that roadblocks are particularly integral to the dynamics of armed conflict – driving violence, and shaping the forms of order espoused by various types of armed actors, state and non-state alike.
This introductory paper to the DIIS/ICTD/CAG working paper series, Roadblocks and Revenues, argues that roadblocks deserve more theoretical attention, as they constitute a distinct claim to authority. The authors propose that the connection between roadblocks, conflict dynamics, political order-making, and state formation can be explored through the ‘politics of passage’ – contestations over movement and authority that take place at roadblocks in fragile settings.
Summary of DIIS/ICTD/CAG Roadblocks and Revenues Series Working Paper 1.
