Book Discussion with Dr Mike Slaven
Venue
Violet Laidlaw room, 6th Floor Chrystal Macmillan BuildingDescription
Securing Borders, Securing Power: The Rise and Decline of Arizona's Border Politics (Columbia University Press)
Author/Speaker: Dr Mike Slaven, University of Lincoln
Discussant: Dr Pontus Odmalm, University of Edinburgh
Time/location: 30 January, 1-2pm, Violet Laidlaw room, 6th floor Chrystal Macmillan Building
Book summary:
In 2010, Arizona enacted Senate Bill 1070 -- a notorious “show-me-your-papers” law that foreshadowed the rise of Donald Trump and underscored the worldwide trend toward the securitization of migration. Tracing how border security consumed Arizona politics from 2003 to 2010, Mike Slaven analyzes how previously extreme arguments can gain momentum as politicians strategize about border security in the context of competitive partisan conflicts. He charts how securitization spreads across parties and factions—and why the escalation of securitization in Arizona eventually broke down, yielding new political configurations, ones which offer lessons for immigration politics across the world. The book is drawn from a University of Edinburgh PhD which won the award for outstanding doctoral thesis in 2016.
Author bio:
Mike Slaven is senior lecturer in international politics at the University of Lincoln. He received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2016. He was previously a speechwriter for the U.S. secretary of homeland security and the governor of Arizona.
Key speakers
- Dr Mike Slaven