Walls Everywhere
United States President Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the entire border between the US and Mexico has dominated the headlines in recent months, not least because of the great financial and logistical challenges that such a vast wall would entail. In fact, border walls are being planned, or are already being constructed, in many areas of the world as fears of unrestrained migration and international terrorism are leading governments to close their borders.
In Europe, border fences have been constructed in a number of areas in the wake of Russia’s growing assertiveness in eastern Europe, as well as the migration crisis that has seen more than 1.5 million migrants cross the Mediterranean Sea to enter Europe since the beginning of 2015. In Central and South Asia, border walls and fences are in place, or are being planned, along nearly all of the major borders in that region, despite the huge distances and the challenging terrain involved.
It seems that no region is exempt from this frenzy of border barrier construction, a sign that people everywhere are growing more fearful of the threat of migration and terrorism. Should this trend continue, there will be major political, economic and environmental ramifications for what will be an increasingly closed world.
While the trend of border wall building began elsewhere, it was the United States’ proposed wall with Mexico that has brought this issue to the forefront of global attention. Since the emergence of the United States as the world’s leading economic power in the 19th century, the border between the US and Mexico has been the location of the greatest discrepancy is terms of wealth levels between two large neighbors. As Mexican migration to the United States increased in the 20th century, barriers were erected along more populated areas of the border, such as the San Diego-Tijuana region.
Now, US President Donald Trump insists that he will lead the construction of a massive wall along the entire 3,200 km (1,989 mile) border that separates the two countries. The latest estimates from the Trump Administration claim that the wall would cost $21.6 billion and take 3.5 years to build, although few experts believe either of these estimates to be realistic. Moreover, legal and logistical challenges could delay the construction of much of this wall for years, if not decades, raising serious questions about whether or not it will ever be built. Of course, such a wall would likely have major economic ramifications for areas along both sides of the wall, while the impact on the wildlife of the border region could be devastating.
The proposed US-Mexican border wall has overshadowed the fact that countries around the world are moving to dramatically fortify their borders. For example, European countries such as Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Macedonia have moved to construct various types of barriers along their southern borders in a bid to stem the flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa that began two years ago. Furthermore, the European borders that were opened by the Schengen Accord are under threat from increasing calls from voters for borders to be secured against the growing threats of migration and terrorism. To the east, Ukraine has started construction of one of the world’s longest border walls along its entire border with Russia.
Meanwhile, no area of the world is undergoing more border wall building than Central and South Asia, where all of the region’s leading countries either have existing barriers along their borders, or are planning new barriers as the threat of migration and terrorism remain very high there. Recently, India announced plans to dramatically strengthen the barriers along its borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, two of the world’s longest shared borders. Likewise, barriers are in place, or being constructed, along many of the contentious borders in the Middle East, where the fears of migration and terrorism remain very high.
This flurry of border wall construction is a sign that the fear of unrestrained migration and widespread terrorism has risen sharply in recent years. Furthermore, many people are no longer realizing the benefits that globalization and open borders have provided them and prefer instead to close their countries to the outside world.
This has happened before. In the latter part of the Roman Empire, uncontrolled migration and increasingly-frequent raids from beyond the borders of the empire led to a massive border fortification program in the empire that, while temporarily bringing peace to the empire, destroyed the inter-connected economy of the Mediterranean world. Likewise, a series of border walls were constructed in China over a period of more than 2,000 years and are collectively known today as the Great Wall of China, but they too reached their greatest extent at a time when China closed itself to the outside world, a development that led to the collapse of Chinese power and wealth that is only being reversed today.
Altogether, claims that a wall will protect countries from unrestrained migration and terrorism appear dubious, while the harmful impact that they have on a country’s economy or environment appear to far outweigh any of their benefits. Nevertheless, wall building appears to be a trend that will be here to stay for the foreseeable future, as the publics of many countries seem to believe what the wall builders are selling, making the promising to fortified borders a major vote winner.