Borders, Fences and Walls

’Contrary to what we have been told by the globalization theorists that the world has become deterritorialized and borderless, the past decade has seen an upsurge in the construction of new fences and walls as part of the inter-state borders within the international system. This is largely due to the sense of fear of the outsider in a post 9/11 world. Part of this is real, much of it is a social construction which enables governments to justify the establishment of new border fences as a means of keeping out the alien and controlling their own territory. The collection of chapters in this book highlights diverse aspects of the ways in which walls and fences function in a globalized world, covering regions as far apart as America and Spain, and from the West Bank to Africa. The book is to be recommended for all students of the renaissant discipline of border studies.’ David Newman, Ben Gurion University, Israel and Editor, Geopolitics ’Notwithstanding all the post-Cold War endist illusions, the contemporary world political map is marked by a growing number of boundaries and walls. This book presents an important aid in the understanding of this far from painless process. This set of contributions edited by Elisabeth Vallet moves a step towards a theory of walled borders, introducing at the same time a wide array of different case studies.’ Elena dell’Agnese, Università di Milano-Bicocca, Italy ’With its rich collection of contributions, this volume illustrates the diversity amongst physical borders in different parts of the world. It is an important and very welcome addition to the border studies literature.’ Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, University of Victoria, Canada