Security and border making in 19th-century southern Italy

Abstract: The article focuses on the border region between two states in pre-unification Italy, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Papal States. Although negotiations to define the border precisely started only following the cholera epidemic of 1836–7, the early 19th century already saw the start of greater control of the territory and of the borders by the ‘administrative monarchies’. Analysed through the lens of securitisation, movement control processes reveal a variable geography of ‘security spaces’ and freedom of movement for different social groups, where state security and collective security needs overlapped.

Keywords: 19th century, southern Italy, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, state security; collective security, mobility control.

Article posted to Journal of the British Academy, volume 9, supplementary issue 4 (Global Border Making and Securitisation in the Early Modern World)