Borders, Border Conflicts, and a Borderless World

 

Earth Has No Boundaries

Earth has no borders except natural barriers, mountains and seas. There are no barriers at all, given the travel technologies we possess. 

Surreal the concept of borders is, yet, borders are quite concrete too; they can start wars, prompt mass exodus, and provoke all kinds of tricky emotions like national pride, a sense of belonging, unjustified hostilities, and fear of the other.

Many national borders have no physical properties. No one can tell where one country ends and another begins by merely looking at them. For that, one needs maps and soldiers, fences and fear. 

They are mostly barren land, rivers and deserts, these national borders that we hold on to at huge prices, costing human lives, diplomacy, weapons, and real money. They deceive you if you look at them for long- so normal, one could even feel tempted to step across. The invisibility of such borders evokes many sociological and philosophical questions.

Were There Borders Always?

At a time in history, borders were not as rigid as they now are. When travel technologies had not evolved far, patrolling or crossing a border was by foot alone or on horseback. In the thick vegetation that covered Earth everywhere, untouched by human hands, one could slip in unnoticed, from one country to another. For example, in America, border crossing became a crime only in 1929 after a new law was introduced making undocumented immigration illegal. 

If you were in Mexico in 1928, you might have just taken your things in a saddle bag, thrown the bag on your horse, and rode into the wilderness of Texas without anyone stopping you. 

The irony is that by the time we developed the technologies of travel and made them a mundane part of our lives, we also drew rigid national borderlines so that the technological ease of travel did not translate into corresponding global citizenship. The travel aspirations of most people in a country remain restricted by national boundaries. 

Humans have braved hardships at sea, formidable deserts, and other hostile terrains to see new worlds. Caravans used to journey thousands of kilometres away from home, always under the threat of dangerous weather events, robbery, and unknown predators, to explore new lands and for trade.

The initial idea of borders was in the form of buffer zones between empires and kingdoms. Borders were called frontiers in those times. Later, realising that it is politically, economically, and strategically inconvenient to have such vague borders, the notion of concrete borders evolved.

Yet, a close examination of history will prove that humans were fixated on borders from an early time, even before they concretised. Gabriel Popescu, an optical engineer turned author, in his authoritative book, ‘Bordering and Ordering the Twenty-First Century’, sees borders as a way humans evolved to organise their lives and separate the known from the unknown. 

A political state, as we know it, first emerged in 1789, when the French Revolution ended monarchy for a short time. Gradually, the monarchy was replaced by different forms of democracy, the cornerstone of nation-states. Still, as time progressed, borders shifted many times. They retain some fluidity even now.

A Map Showing the Borders of Ancient Greece's Northern Part

The Medieval Era

Between 500 AD and 1500 AD, borders shifted often as Kings and local chieftains vied with each other to control more land. Wars, marriages, and inheritance caused changes in borders, and sometimes, they were so transient that rural people did not know which kingdom they belonged to. 

Gradually, kings and kingdoms began to consolidate their borders, and relative stability dawned upon borders in Europe. Yet, one fine distinction about the idea of borders existed in the medieval era; the authority of the kings and kingdoms was more upon the people rather than the land. This definition made borders more circumfluent. 

The idea of land as a common resource for humanity held on in people's thoughts for centuries. That it could be private came only later. The story of borders is also the tale of the Anthropocene growing and gradually consolidating its power over the planet. By the 7th century BC, the Chinese Empire had its Great Wall as a protection from the raiding Nomads of Eurasia. The length of the wall is 21,196.18 kilometres.

The Peace of Westphalia

The Peace of Westphalia, negotiated after the end of a warring era in Europe in 1648, was the first true acknowledgement of a concrete border. This treaty specifically proclaimed that countries had sovereign power over the lands they commanded and fixed them using clearly drawn borders. 

Such treaties were part of a quest for some sort of political stability. Around 8 million people were killed in different acts of war (the 30-year war and the 80-year war) in Europe before this treaty could be brought about. These wars originated from tensions spewed from Catholic and Protestant hostilities in Europe. 

The Westphalia treaty clearly demarcated the borders of a set of countries- the Dutch Lands, France, England, Poland, Turkey, Spain, the German princedoms, Sweden, and Muscovy. Even after this peace treaty, clearly defined borders along with less delineated frontier zones co-existed in the region for a few decades. Gradually, the nation-states grew strong, and for the sake of administrative convenience, guarding the borders became a necessity. Slowly, all frontiers transformed into well-defined borders.

Israel-Palestine Border

cihrs.org

Colonial Borders

Europe had resolved its border issues, but the colonial ambitions of the European states produced another problem - how to stop quarrelling over the colonial territories. Many European countries had established trading colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas; they were at war with each other to control these colonised lands. 

In 1494, Spain and Portugal agreed on how to divide between themselves the conquered and colonised lands in future- the lands yet known and unknown across the Atlantic Sea. To have arrived at such an agreement without knowing what lies beyond the Atlantic was the absurd part of this agreement, if not outrightly preposterous. 

Years after the treaty, Christopher Columbus reached the Americas. The colonisation of Africa entered a new phase when, in 1894-95, the European colonial powers held the Berlin Conference to decide the borders of the African territories each of them had invaded and controlled.

Old Countries and New Countries

After World War II, as many as 120 new countries were born. Curiously, Poland, as a nation, had ceased to exist three times in history and was later reinstated. As recently as in 2011, a new state, The Republic of South Sudan, formed after a prolonged civil war, was incorporated into the United Nations (UN). 

If we take a look at the past 40 years, we can see that 34 new countries were recognised by the UN. The Pacific island of Bougainville is a nation in the making, as it voted in 2021 to separate itself from Papua New Guinea by 2027. Kosovo, which broke off from Serbia, is only partially recognised by the UN. During 1991 and 1993, the world saw the birth of the largest number of countries ever as the Soviet Union disintegrated and 15 countries were newly formed.

Globalisation and Borders

In a globalised world, borders often allow the flow of capital from one country to another and also the flow of labour to some extent. Culture and communication also flow almost freely across borders. When the ambitions of the world capital grew strong, national boundaries became a hindrance to world trade. The result was that the world embraced neo-liberal policies and globalisation. Scholars observe that globalisation has not changed the way people think about their territorial identities.

Why Do Some Countries Have Border Disputes?

The United Nations and the International Court of Justice that functions under it have certain jurisdiction over settling border disputes between the countries. There are international laws to assist them in such matters. There are many border treaties in place globally, many adhered to, and many breached on a routine scale. There are also borders in place in the seas and the skies. Maritime borders are often contested, breached, and heavily guarded too.

Having borders is equally a prerequisite for border disputes as not having them. Even after countries began to have well-defined borders, border disputes lingered. According to the book, ‘Border Disputes: A Global Encyclopedia’, there are about 250000 kilometres of borders between countries all around the world. No wonder there are more disagreements than the world would have wished for.

The US- Mexico Border

It was the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo that finally determined the border between the US and Mexico in 1848. Mexico, which was a region colonised by many European countries, gained independence as a nation through this agreement while it gave up the old West region, that is, the area from Texas to California to the United States of America. The US-Mexican borderlands is a vast expanse amounting to 960000 sq. miles of mountains and deserts, though it is the Rio Grande river that separates the two countries officially.

Since its inception, the US-Mexico border has been one of the politically murkiest frontier areas between any two countries in the modern world. In 2021 alone, the US Border Patrol registered 1.6 million incidents of Mexican migrants trying to cross into the United States. Drug trafficking is also a major issue. 

Sometimes, the migrants caught trying to cross without legal papers are expelled back into Mexico, or they are detained temporarily in the US and then sent back. The topic has turned into a heated debate in the US mainstream. The debate surrounding it is so influential that it sometimes can swing the US Presidential elections in favour of one candidate or the other depending on what position the candidates assume. 

Though there was fencing along 700 miles of the US-Mexican border, the U.S. president, Donald Trump, in his first term, initiated building a border wall. One end of the existing fence rises from the coastal Pacific Ocean in Tijuana, Mexico, and there are different kinds of fences and walls put in place, in a discontinued and random fashion, along the stretch of the borderland. All these physical barriers were not present till the 19th century.

Palestine-Israel Border

About 70 years ago, Israel was part of the Ottoman Empire ruled by Turkey. Soon after World War I ended, which also destroyed the Ottoman Empire, the region west of the River Jordan demarcated as Palestine was given to the British and the winning side, the Allied Forces. They were given the mandate of creating "a national home for the Jewish people" there, as was promised in a letter from Arthur James Balfour, the British foreign secretary, to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish people. 

The mandate also included a clause of not violating the rights of the non-Jewish people living there. Whatever the intentions of such a decision, the outcome was not genial at all as the region saw the rise of Arab nationalism as well as a Jewish migratory inflow from different parts of the world. In 1947, the United Nations took over the problem and its resolution from Britain. 

The UN suggested partitioning Palestine into an Arabic and a Jewish state and leaving the Jerusalem-Bethlehem area as an international city. Both sides could not reach an agreement on this. Later, on May 14, 1948, the Jewish leaders declared the formation of the state of Israel. This was when the mandate given to the British to rule the area expired without a clear-cut idea emerging about the Arab-Jewish disagreements. 

Even after Israel was formed, where its borders lie was not clearly articulated. The next day, after the announcement of the new state, Arab countries invaded this region. The war went on for almost one year, and after a ceasefire commenced, when Israel’s borders remained only partially defined. Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem were the areas in which Palestine Arabs could take control of. 

In 1967, in another prolonged battle, Israel invaded and took command of the Sinai Peninsula, West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and a great chunk of the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights. The UN and the Western countries did not recognise these newly annexed regions of Israel. However, during the Donald Trump presidency, the US recognised these territories as Israel’s. 

Earlier in 1979, Israel entered into a border agreement with Egypt and the border between the two countries is now clearly defined. Later, Egypt also recognised the state of Israel and Israel returned Sinai to Egypt. In 1994, Israel resolved its border disputes with Jordan, and in turn, Jordan recognised Israel as a sovereign state. All other borders of Israel are either internationally contested and occupied territories, or they are frontiers with Arab countries such as Syria and Lebanon.

Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2005. The UN and global leaders kept trying to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict by reaching an agreement on Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem. The infamous October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel led to another bloody war that is still raging and has killed thousands and burned to the ground almost all of Gaza.  

The Balkans

The Balkan region includes 10 countries- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Romania, and Serbia. All these countries are situated in the southern peninsulas of Europe. Some areas of Greece and Turkey are also in the Balkan peninsula. 

Ethnic hostilities run high in the region, made worse by the fluctuating border situations. The term ‘Balkanisation’ is derived from the conflicts that have incessantly marred the Balkan peninsula and mean fragmentation caused by ethnic identities. The people of the Balkans have seen many invasions and occupations- the Byzantine, Turkish, the Nazi German, and the domination by the Soviet Union. 

After World War I, the Paris Peace Conference tried to redraw the borders in the Balkans by creating two large kingdoms- the Romanian Kingdom and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes based on the two major languages spoken. The attempt failed, and the kingdoms fell apart, and the Second World War made matters worse.

The different ethnic groups in this region have never been able to figure out unity in their diversity. All the countries in this region were formed by the intervention of foreign forces, for example, Russia supporting the Serbs and Bulgarians. Ethnic wars and genocides have cost millions of lives in the Balkans so far.

India-Pakistan Border

The India-Pakistan border was created in 1947 as a line drawn on a map by an official in ridiculous haste and without due diligence when two independent states were created from previous colonial India. The British were in a hurry to complete the process of Indian independence and leave for multiple reasons. 

Once partition became a reality, which was also along religious lines because India was a Hindu majority nation and Pakistan was envisaged as a Muslim nation, people belonging to different religions began to flee their homes, crossing the freshly created borderline; Hindus to the Hindu majority India and Muslims to Muslim Pakistan. Bloody communal clashes ensued, and often, trains with refugees arrived in India and Pakistan, with all the passengers hacked to death. 

One million people lost their lives, and a few million were displaced. The two countries still obsess with the trauma and tragedy of partition, the wounds remaining only partially healed. India and Pakistan both claim certain border territories as theirs, for example, the Pak Occupied Kashmir. Different international maps show different borders for India and Pakistan depending on which of these two countries they ally with. Only a ceasefire line named the Line of Control exists, and India and Pakistan still refuse to recognise the accession of certain areas by the other side.

Sir Cyril Radcliffe was the British official who was entrusted with deciding the border between India and Pakistan, and he infamously was given only six weeks to decide the new borders. Many historians have alleged that he, in his desperation to meet the deadline, was to draw a blind line on the map of undivided India, separating the Muslim-majority areas from the Hindu-majority ones. 

The line was later found passing across even singular houses and all kinds of existing human habitations. The violence erupted after the partition raged on for almost four years. Kashmir is still one of the most volatile regions in the world, with a heavy military presence on both sides. Both countries share an 1800-mile-long border.

People Fleeing as Refugees During India-Pakistan Partition

flickr.com

The Ukraine-Russia Border and War

The Russia-Ukraine border has always been a matter of contention between the two countries. Even before the war started, the Ukraine border areas of Donetsk and Luhansk were ruled by Russian-backed local administrations. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia began in February 2022. The treaty that Russia signed with Ukraine regarding common borders in 2010 stands nullified in the wake of the war.

The Korean Border

The United States and the Soviet Union decided to partition Korea in 1945. World War II was coming to an end, and Korea was just coming out of a 40-year-long Japanese colonial rule. Inside Korea, there were two warring political groups, one, the landed elite aligning with Japan and the second, the Communists who led the revolution against Japanese rule. 

Historians later noted that the existence of these two factions was in no way a justification for dividing Korea into two by the foreign superpowers of that period. Now, there is a demilitarised zone between the two Koreas, 250 kilometres long and 4 kilometres wide. This boundary was a product of World War II when the Soviet Union took control of the North Korean area, and the US commanded the rest. 

After the war, the boundary was determined along the same line. In 1948, a Korean war broke out between the two states, and around 3 million people lost their lives to this war. In 1953, the Armistice Agreement ended the war, but there was constant tension between the two countries in the border region.

Walking in Ice

‘Of Walking in Ice: Munich-Paris, 11/23 to 12/14, 1974’ is a book written by renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog, who walked from Munich to Paris on foot in the winter of 1974. He made this journey to visit his ailing friend and film critic, Lotte Eisner, with a strong wish that his walking would make her stay alive. 

This was a solo journey that he comprehensively documented, too. He wrote that he was walking across the harsh borders confronting the cold “in full faith, believing that she would stay alive if I came on foot”. There are 846 kilometres between Paris and Munich, and Herzog had to cross the border between France and Germany. This was a unique kind of border crossing that made it into the cultural history of the world.

Peaceful Borders

There are many peaceful borders across the globe. The photographer Valerio Vincenzo of Netherlands has undertaken a photo series of peaceful borders which he titled, ‘Borderline, Frontiers of Peace’. The peaceful and now-erased borders he covered include the Latvia-Estonia border, Germany-France border, Slovakia-Poland border, and many such borders within the European Union. The formation of the European Union was what made peace possible along these borders.

The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall marks a unique chapter in the history of borders. World War II culminated in the Soviet Bloc and the Western powers dividing up Germany between them. East Germany came under the control of the Soviet Union, and the rest of Germany fell to the command of the US, UK, and France. Berlin was split up into four zones, each of them administered by the Soviet Union, France, the UK, and the US. 

The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to prevent the influence of East Germany over West Berlin, which was geographically surrounded by the Eastern communist territory. After the fall of the Soviet Union, a mass people’s movement rose in East Germany. On November 9, 1989, about half a million people assembled in East Berlin, and the mass protest broke the Berlin Wall down, literally.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformer who caused the dismantling of the Soviet Union, was not ready to use force against mass protests in the neighbouring countries controlled by the Soviet bloc. Thus, Germany was reunited, and the Berlin Wall became a symbol of people’s will and democracy in history.

Is a Borderless World Possible?

Despite globalisation opening up trade and finance flow in an unprecedented way, the national borders remain opaque and rigid. They are solidifying even in cyberspace. Though borders have disappeared for Europe, they are fought over in the rest of the world. The dreams about a borderless world cannot possibly come true in any near future, but humanity still must work towards it.

References

Bordering and Ordering the Twenty-First Century, Gabriel Popescu, 2021.

Great Wall of China even Longer than Previously Thought, CBC News, June 6, 2012.

The US-Mexico Border: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, John Davenport, 2005.

What is Happening at the U.S.-Mexico Border in 7 Charts, Pew Research Centre, November 9, 2021.

Balfour Declaration, britannica.com

Israel’s Borders Explained in Maps, BBC, September 16, 2020.

The World’s Most Dangerous Borders: Thirteen Places You Don’t Want to be Stuck at, Philip Walker, June 24, 2011.

Of Walking in Ice: Munich-Paris, 11/23 to 12/14, 1974, Werner Herzog, Kindle, https://read.amazon.in/?asin=B00PI0OZGW&ref_=kwl_kr_iv_rec_1

Fall of Berlin Wall: How 1989 Reshaped the Modern World, November 5, 2019, BBC News.