In this volume Diken and Lausten, a sociologist and political theorist respectively, offer a wide-ranging analysis of the figure of the ‘camp’ in today’s fragmented society. They claim that contrary to the typical political science view of the camp as an ‘exception’ par excellence, the logic of the camp itself defines contemporary society. The paradoxical nature of the camp—where the threat of extra-juridical detention and exclusion is combined with the desire of many to ‘belong’ to exclusive communities and social formations—is revealed in the authors’ analysis of concrete phenomena; see for example chapter 4 ‘From refugee camps to gated communities’ and chapter 6 ‘From terror to the politics of security.