The Banopticon (sometimes written as Ban-opticon) is a term coined by Paris School academic Didier Bigo used within an International Political Sociology approach to security studies to describe a situation where profiling technologies are used to determine whom to place under surveillance.[1] The term, which is a portmanteau word consisting of ban and panopticon, takes its name from Michel Foucault'sinterpretation of the panopticon as used in Discipline and Punish and the notion of ban from international relations[2] to describe a situation where observation is used as a disciplinary tool, namely by creating profiles for people and using databases to determine whether or not a person should be granted the right to move freely.[3] According to Bigo, the banopticon is said to have contributed towards the securitization of migration in Europe.
^Karin M. Fierke, (2007), Critical approaches to international security, Cambridge, Polity Press, p. 183
^Bigo, Didier (2006), "Security, Exception, Ban and Surveillance.", in Lyon, David (ed.), Theorizing Surveillance. The panopticon and beyond., Wilan Publishing, pp. 46–47, ISBN978-1843921912
