Mobile Citizenship, States of Exception and (non)Border Regimes in the Pandemic and Post-Covid19 Cyprus

Nicos Trimikliniotis, Ari Sitas, Vassilis Tsianos, Myria Georgiou, Giorgos Charalambous, Michaelangelo Anastasiou

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

This study examined the impact of the emergency measures on community relations, fundamental rights, and mobility rights during the Covid19 pandemic in de facto divided Cyprus. It explored states of exception, as well as solidarity aiming to counter those restrictions. Internal and external borders were mobilised to separate ‘us’ from ‘them’, shaped by the pandemic policies and media discourses via a hygiene emergency with suspension of rights, hitting severely the most vulnerable, often migrants and asylum-seekers.
The hostile and securitized climate was generated by the political elites and the media and was built on the ‘Cypriot states of exception’ and colonial laws by extending old and generating new bordering processes. An illiberal policy frame towards migrants and asylum seekers was manifested in the form of a state of exception of immobility, which affects the relations between the two communities, the division of Cyprus, peace-keeping, and peace-making.
Contra this hostile environment and given the welfare state crisis acts for citizenship have generated praxis-based solidarity. Via digital networking, we observed processes of reorganization of activism. This is prefiguring a potential for reassembling socialities, paving ays for social imaginaries of a mobile citizenship transcending old and new divisions of Cyprus and the world.
Original languageEnglish
Article number183
Pages (from-to)1-99
Number of pages99
JournalHellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe, GreeSE working paper series, GreeSE Paper
Volume183
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jan 2023

Keywords

  • border regimes
  • states of exception of immobility
  • migration/asylum
  • solidarity
  • mobile citizenship
  • socialities
  • Cyprus problem
  • de facto partition
  • Green Line

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Mobile Citizenship, States of Exception and (non)Border Regimes in the Pandemic and Post-Covid19 Cyprus'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this