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Global Challenges
Issue no. 4 | October 2018
Epidemia of Walls in an (Un)free World
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Articles for this issue
Global Challenges
Issue no. 4 | October 2018
Epidemia of Walls in an (Un)free World

We currently face a baffling paradox. While since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 a seemingly inexorable process of globalisation has been foreshadowing a peaceful and frontierless world, the number of walls across the world has been rising at a steady pace. Liberal and open societies buttressed by trade, international law and technological progress were supposed to implacably contribute to the erosion of frontiers and walls between nations. However, in a context of surging populist discourses, securitarian anxieties and identitarian politics as well as concomitant flows of migration alimented by climate change, conflict and poverty, nations have recently started to barricade themselves behind new walls.

Articles for this issue

Epidemia of Walls in an (Un)free World
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    Whither Cosmopolis: Yearning for Closure in Times of Uncertainty

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Dominic Eggel and Marc Galvin
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 1
     
    A Palestinian man walks past graffiti painted on Israel's controversial separation barrier in the Aida refugee camp situated inside the West Bank town of Bethlehem, on February 12, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / THOMAS COEX

    A Contagious Craze for Walls

    Reading time: 2 min

    By Jean-François Bayart
    Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
    Yves Oltramare Chair Religion and Politics in the Contemporary World
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 2
     
    This is a monument for those who have died attempting to cross the US-Mexican border. Each coffin represents a year and the number of dead. It is a protest against the effects of Operation Guardian. Taken at the Tijuana-San Diego border.

    The “Great Wall” of America: Historical Opportunities

    Reading time: 3 min

    By Samuel Segura Cobos
    PhD Candidate in International History
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 3
     
    Palestinian boys walk 13 September 2005 past a mural painting on a wall that separates the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunes from the former Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim. The wall which had been erected by Israeli forces to protect the settlers from Palestinian attacks has been painted by Palestinian artists, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area two days ago. AFP PHOTO/Roberto SCHMIDT (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP)

    Between Security and Apartheid: Cinematic Representations of the West Bank Wall

    Reading time: 4 min

    By Riccardo Bocco
    Professor of Anthropology and Sociology
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 4
     
    An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier (R) stands alert as a farmer leads her cow alongside border fencing marking the India-Bangladesh border in the village of Jaypur, some 5 kms west of Agartala, 17 November 2006. Security on the Indian side of the border has been intensified following political instability and continuing violence in Bangladesh. The border between the two countries stretches over 4000 kilometers (2500 miles), a considerable part of which is unfenced. / AFP PHOTO / STRDEL

    Battle of Identities at the India-Bangladesh Border

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Anuradha Sen Mookerjee
    PhD candidate in Anthropology and Sociology
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 5
     
    Wall built by Turkey on its border with Syria.

    Turkey and the Middle-East: From Imperial Temptation to National Closure

    Reading time: 4 min

    By Özcan Yilmaz
    Lecturer in Contemporary History
    Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva

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  • 6
     
    Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta

    Combating Terrorism on the Somalian Border: The Improbable Kenyan Dream?

    Reading time: 5 min

    By Marc Galvin
    Research Office
    The Graduate Institute, Geneva

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  • 7
     
    Concrete Wall, DMZ, North Korea.

    Korea: Comfortable Wall, Uncomfortable Peace

    Reading time: 4 min

    By Emilia S. Heo, Associate Professor of International Relations and Peace Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan)

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