Reconstructing Borders in an Era of Globalization - David Newman

Border studies have undergone a major renaissance during the past two decades. Based on the borderless world discourse, scholars from across a range of disciplines have focused on the processes through which borders between States have been opening and, in many cases, totally removed. The processes of border opening have been a function of both technological (globalization) change and a result of historical and political contingency (the fall of the Iron Curtain, the expansion of the EU). This discourse has been challenged during recent years as the alternative discussions on securitization have resulted in governments re-assessing their open borders policies, seeking to reconstruct borders in an attempt to prevent the movement of "threats" in the guise of illegal migrants and/or violence and terrorism from entering into the national space.

New walls and fences have been constructed and this has been a central message in both the campaigns leading up to Brexit (in the UK) and the USA presidential elections. Governments today are faced with the complex duality of maintaining open borders and free movement to facilitate global economics, and at the same time maintaining what is perceived as the integrity of the national space by reconstructing and closing the points of entry and exit to the State. This lecture will discuss the alternative and dual border discourses which are playing out in contemporary geopolitical change.

David Newman is professor of Geopolitics in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University in Israel. Former editor of the International Journal of Geopolitics, his work focuses on the territorial dimensions of ethnic and national conflict, and the changing functions of borders within the geopolitical environment. Newman has published extensively on territorial dimensions of the Israel-Palestine arena and is an active participant in peace related Track II workshops and discussions.

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