The Politics of Belonging: Sovereignty, Exclusion and the Illusion of Accountability

This essay examines how states use citizenship as a tool of mass exclusion, as seen in Myanmar and Assam, for political and material gain. The humanitarian consequences of these scenarios are governed by the international order, which neutralizes the humanitarian crisis, but does not supervise the sovereign entity. The essay proposes a thought experiment "Sovereign Human Rights Risk Rating"(SHRR) to analyze the state of accountability. It poses the question as to whether a purely technical, monetary system could achieve such accountability. The essay posits that SHRR would fail. The act of exclusion in this instance is not merely a political choice; rather it is a fundamental act of political sovereignty. The absence of accountability is what this global arrangement is built upon.

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