Contested frontiers: Exploring fights over ‘constitutive principles’ in settler-state peripheries

Between Indigenous self-determination and settler colonization lie contested frontiers – places like New Caledonia in the French Pacific, Guam in the U.S. Pacific, the Yukon Territory in Canada, the Northern Territory in Australia, Finnmark in Norway, and Lapland in Finland. Such frontiers are torn between “us” and “them,” “theirs” and “ours.” As such, they are subject to constitutional contestation – to fights over the framing of the polity.

In the past, settlers used force to swallow frontiers into the body politic. In the U.S., they carved “Indian Country” into federal territories, which they then cleansed, dominated, and made into states of the union. Recent decades have seen an Indigenous resurgence, rekindling contestation, particularly on the few frontiers that remain. With the advent of the rights revolution, contestation is increasingly pursued through appeals to “constitutive principles”: Is the frontier domestic or foreign? Is its demos universal or divisible? Should individual or collective rights prevail? Should democracy or self-determination decide?

For the launch of the research project Contested Frontiers, or ConFront (funded by a five-year European Research Council Starting Grant), we invite scholars to a workshop in Bergen, Norway, on May 13-14, 2025, to explore contests over constitutive principles in, and how such contests shape and are shaped by, settler-state peripheries.

This workshop is multidisciplinary, welcoming scholars of politics, constitutional law, and normative political theory. It is international: We invite those with interests in US, Canadian, and Australian territories, Nordic peripheries, and French overseas jurisdictions. And, this workshop will strive to grapple with salient dilemmas, including the “boundary question,” rights to territory, settler (de)colonization, democratic inclusion, the (il)liberality of borders, consociationalism, and more.  

If you are interested in joining us and sharing your work, please email Aaron Spitzer ([email protected]) with the title and 300-word abstract of your work, as well as an indication as to whether this is a full paper or a work-in-progress, by 15 February 2025. Travel and hotels are fully funded, but space is very limited, so please make contact as soon as possible.