Following the Digitalised Rabbit: Biometrics, Bodies and Borders

Bellanova, Rocco

This book review engages with Benjamin J. Muller's 'Security, risk and the biometric state: governing borders and bodies' (London/New York: Routledge, 2010). In this work, Muller focuses on biometrics and their application in a risk management perspective. This provides an occasion to study some of the most interesting developments in the modes of government of individuals, societies and mobilities. In particular, the choice of focusing on these technologies offers important insights into the ongoing digitalisation of borders and bodies, and their management in terms of risk. Muller’s publication is part of a growing number of studies that highlight how important it is for IR to take a more acute interest in technologies. It is also a valuable contribution to the work being done, from different perspectives, on the theory of the state and the protection of fundamental rights.