Uncertainty as a Mode of Governance: Differentiating Movement through Jerusalem’s Checkpoints

Uncertainty is often approached as an undesired condition that needs to be confronted and mitigated. This is particularly the case at the intersection of two key governance domains, mobility and security, where state actors concern themselves with minimalizing risk and uncertainty by streamlining the safe movement of people, goods and capital. But can uncertainty, in some cases, be also a condition desired by state security actors? This article proposes that uncertainty can be employed as a mode of governance, in which it is deliberately crafted in order to pursue controversial policies which differentiate and discriminate between different population groups. Using ethnographic data collected in 11 months of fieldwork at checkpoints in and around Jerusalem Jerusalem, I examine the role of (un)certainty in facilitating the mobility of some residents, while severely limiting the movement of others. I then proceed to analyse three distinct dimensions of (un)certainty as a mode of governance at the checkpoints: the opaque and interchangeable roles of public and private security actors; the parallel existence of unimpeded and streamlined mobility to designated populations; and the spatiotemporal movement of borders and their significance. I propose that uncertainty can be strategically employed and adjusted by means of irregular operation, managerial obfuscation, lack of accountability and contradictory or oft-altered directives, and regulatory framework by public and private security actors. I continue to explore how such a strategy can lead to a differentiall (re)distribution of rights, resources and privileges between different citizens and residents.