Borders and Walls

Boundary. n. In political geography, an imaginary line between two nations,

separating the imaginary rights of one from the imaginary rights of the other.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devils Dictionary, 1911.

Borders, Boundaries and Frontiers

Borders, boundaries and frontiers are sometimes used interchangeably. But a legalistic definition is that:

A boundary is a line separating states

A frontier connotes a zone, having therefore width as well as length

(a border therefore can be either a line or a zone)

History of the Concept

In ancient Greece, imperial Rome and in the Middle Ages the concept of border zones predominated over fixed-line boundaries.

Roman limes – debate about how fixed this was

Early Germanic peoples had no concept or word for frontier in a linear sense – mark (march) or forst (forest) used instead. March meant ‘edge’ or ‘margin’. They became more institutionalised over the Middle Ages.

“The notion of a strict, linear boundary is a relatively modern conception, the need for defined boundaries arising as states developed in the post-Westphalian era and populations expanded into border areas and communicated across border lines. Exact boundaries, however, could only develop when map-making and geographic techniques were sufficiently advanced to facilitate delimitations and demarcation”.

Malcolm Shaw, Title to territory in Africa: international legal issues, p. 224

Language Issues

Some in Britain use words interchangeably.

America – boundary is the limiting line; frontier is the part of a country that borders on another.

French frontière is boundary line or border zone.

Same with German Grenzen.

Boundaries and Frontiers

Frontier is broader than just a geographical line – it is a zone, with people living in it.

Gottman, The Significance of Territory, p. 134.

“frontiers and boundaries are respectively the zones and lines which separate areas of different political activity”.

Prescott, Political Geography, p. 54.

Why the Change?

People and land as significant taxable assetsSovereignty over land rather than affiliation of

peopleSecurity of political powerTidying up exercise – i.e. French conception of

‘frontières naturelles’, emphasised by Jean Bodin in political philosophy, Richelieu in political practice and Vauban in military practice and economic theory (see Gottman, p. 34).– Cardinal Richelieu, Testament Politique – “les limites

naturelles” of France: Rhine, Alps, Pyrenees.Advances in geometry and cartography

“Frontiers have no physical reality unless they happen to be marked or fortified. But, in the long run, that is neither a necessary, nor indeed a sufficient, condition for having a frontier. A frontier exists by virtue of assumptions, shared by people on either side of it, about where the frontier is located, and in the long run, about the acceptability of this location”.

Andrew Osiander, The States System of Europe 1640-1990: Peacemaking and the Conditions of International Stability, Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1994, p. 5.

“As the medieval juridical line became converted to a modern boundary its whole nature changed – it separated political territories one from another. Cartography reflected this change with the rivers and towns that feature so prominently on early sixteenth-century maps being replaced by political boundaries on early seventeenth-century maps. Interritoriality had arrived; such depictions of absolute spaces have a direct lineage to the modern world political map”.

Peter J. Taylor, “Beyond Containers: Internationality, Interstateness, Interterritoriality”,

Progress in Human Geography, Vol 19 No 1, March 1995, p. 9.

Taxonomy of Frontiers

Two main types of frontiers – political (separate individual states) – settlement (developed from undeveloped).

But the first of these are rare these days. Usually a temporary measure (ie US/Canada, de facto limit of sovereignty).

Secondary do still exist (i.e. desert/polar regions – undeveloped due to technical lack).

Changing Frontiers

Annexation and conquestMarches become permanent (military zones to

defend, became states)Buffer statesSpheres of interest/influence (satellite states)

Formal treaties – imposed by external powers, negotiated settlements, UN, etc.

Inherit boundaries of colonies on independence

Stages of Boundary Making

Allocation, general shape, straight lines, coordinates of latitude/longitude

Delimitation, selection of specific boundary sites

Demarcation, marked by pillars, cleared vistas, fences, etc.

(Management)

1907 Romanes Lecture on the subject of Frontiers by Lord Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India (1898-1905) and British Foreign Secretary 1919-24

http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk/docs/curzon1.html

Some Examples

US-Canadian border

Kenya-Tanzania

Ethiopia-Eritrea

Antarctica

Iraq-Syria

Botswana – Kalahari desert

US-Mexico

Israel-Lebanon, Israel-Syria, West Bank wall

Swaziland-South Africa

Hong Kong-China

The American War of Independence ended in 1783 with a humiliating defeat for Britain. The red line was used by the British negotiating for peace with the Americans to demonstrate their interpretation of the boundary between the United States and the provinces which later formed Canada. The map was presented to George III to show him how the proposed boundaries might work.

These boundaries were, in the event, never put into practice. As the map was not included in the final treaty and as it was found to be inaccurate anyway further arbitration was later required. This means that, as shown on the modern map of the area, the boundaries today differ from those proposed on the 'Red Lined Map'.

Text and maps on last 2 slides taken from www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/ lieland/m3-0-1.html (link now dead)

Windsor, Ontario

Drummond Island

US-Canadian Border Mid-West

US-Canada

“The 49th-parallel boundary between Canada and the United States is considered antecedent in terms of its relationship to subsequent colonisation (its superimposed nature in terms of the indigenous populations over which it passed being generally neglected). Like other geometrical boundaries, it is unrelated to underlying patterns of terrain, and though the boundary was politically acceptable to both parties… the International Joint Commission was concerned with problems involving no less than fourteen rivers and lakes crossing this boundary”.

Richard Muir, Modern Political Geography, London: Macmillan, 1981, pp. 132-3.

US-Canadian Border West Side

Africa

Divisions in Africa are largely ‘fictitious’, with the borders imposed by the European.

Uti possidetis – inherit boundaries of colonies on independence… seen also especially in South America.

“In some cases the flanking states have never been able to agree on another line more closely related to the landscape; in others the line traverses through unattractive deserts where the states concerned have no present intention of developing. In East Africa straight boundaries were preserved between Kenya and Tanganyika because both were under British Administration”.

Prescott, Political Geography, p. 63

Ethiopia-Eritrea

The boundary between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been disputed for many years, and was poorly delimited and demarcated.Between 1998 and 2000 a war was fought between the two countries over this boundary.

Following an arbitration process an independent boundary commission published a delimitation decision in April 2002 and sought to commence demarcation of the boundary on the ground.

Ethiopia-Eritrea

However, Ethiopia objected to aspects of the delimitation - in particular the fact that the boundary placed the village of Badme (where the boundary dispute first erupted) within Eritrea - and has refused to cooperate in the demarcation process. The two sides are still in dispute. The boundary commission has used aerial photography to identify points at which boundary pillars should be erected unless the parties agree otherwise. They proposed that if no agreement was reached by the end of November 2007 the boundary 'demarcated' by the commission will become legally binding. But Ethiopia still occupies Badme; the resolution has not been reached; and skirmishes continue.

British Mandate from Ottoman Empire

Sykes-Picot agreement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i357G1HuFcI

BBC News – June, 25 July, 22 August, 10 September, 13 October

Financial Times

• https://info.publicintelligence.net/DoS-Syria-ISIL.pdf

Iraqi and Syrian Towns and Cities seized by the Islamic State and its allies

https://maps.google.com/maps/u/0/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=206503076099972915830.0004fb81021906110e889&t=m&source=embed&ll=34.939985,41.616211&spn=6.302619,12.304687&z=6&dg=feature

Botswana and Kalahari desert

Indigenous San or Basarwa people of this area, often known as the ‘Bushmen’ – conflict between their sense of space and the government of BotswanaCentral Kalahari Game Reserve

– Created 1961– Independence 1966, new settlements created outside the

reserve

Key issues– Wildlife in reserve– Diamonds– Two different spatial logics

2006 court ruling that eviction was illegal and that they could return

The End of Borders?

In the 1990s, following the end of the Cold War, there was talk of ‘the end of territory’, deterritorialisation, or the end of borders.

Europe – Schengenland

Global flows of goods, people, capital and labour

A rebordered world?

US-Mexico border, and US-Canadian border

Israel’s wall/fence/border/security barrier in the West Bank

Other borders being fenced across the world

http://shelf3d.com/Search/Uploaded%20by%20CCIGchannel

Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, why are leading democracies like the United States, India and Israel building massive walls and fences on their borders? Despite predictions of a borderless world through globalization, these three countries alone have built an astonishing combined total of 5,700 kilometers of security barriers. In this groundbreaking work, Reece Jones analyzes how these controversial border security projects were justified in their respective countries, what consequences these physical barriers have on the lives of those living in these newly securitized spaces, and what long-term effects the hardening of political borders will have in these societies and globally.Border Walls is a bold, important intervention that demonstrates that the exclusion and violence necessary to secure the borders of the modern state often undermine the very ideals of freedom and democracy they are meant to protect.