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Politics without principle: Potential borders and the ethics of anti-trafficking online

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  • Jonathan Mendel
  • Kiril Sharapov

Abstract

Anti-trafficking has been spreading in a novel way, with moral certitude (where human trafficking is deemed uniquely wrong, and this wrongness is taken as a founding principle for anti-trafficking action) accompanied by little or no accountability. This moral certitude drives anti-trafficking networks to spread across borders, just as it is assumed that trafficking will. The paper critiques this certitude and spread of anti-trafficking by developing ideas around borders, potential, and ethics. Massumi (2007) analyses the move to a potential politics, which prioritises what “[c]ould have, would have†happened and acts against this potential as if it is a ground for certitude. After Massumi, this paper argues that online anti-trafficking practice relies on potential borders: borders between legal and illegal, and the borders between states, are increasingly blurred by action against what might potentially be trafficking. Following Campbell (1993: 3-4) we critique the claims to “moral certitude†and principle in anti-trafficking and argue for deeper ethical engagement with the needs of others. Rather than the spread of anti-trafficking through potential borders, we argue that exploitation should be challenged through an ethical response to those marginalised by capitalism today. Against the unprincipled politics of the anti-trafficking industry, we advance a politics without principle that foregrounds our ethical obligation to respond to others.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Mendel & Kiril Sharapov, 2025. "Politics without principle: Potential borders and the ethics of anti-trafficking online," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 43(3), pages 486-503, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:43:y:2025:i:3:p:486-503
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544241288682
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jennifer Musto & Anne E. Fehrenbacher & Heidi Hoefinger & Nicola Mai & P. G. Macioti & Calum Bennachie & Calogero Giametta & Kate D’Adamo, 2021. "Anti-Trafficking in the Time of FOSTA/SESTA: Networked Moral Gentrification and Sexual Humanitarian Creep," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, February.
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