New Walls

Militarizing Borders in Europe

The fall of the Berlin Wall sparked hopes of a new, borderless and peaceful global society. Many developments since then fostered this dream, ranging from European integration and digital knowledge sharing to the rise of low- and middle-income countries into the ranks of leading world economies. 30 years later, we have witnessed not only the construction of new physical barriers, but also new divides like digital censorship, social media taxes, and protectionist trade policies. By barring goods, ideas and aspirations from spreading freely across countries, “new borders” contribute to unequal access to public goods, regional disintegration, disinformation, and disrespect for human rights. We ought to get to know them better – in our mini-series “New walls”.

Episode 1: What has become of the hope for freedom, thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall? Instead of disappearing, more and more hard border fortifications arise. read more

In Our next Newsletter

New Walls in Cyberspace and Trade

As the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is approaching, we will continue our series of articles on "New Walls" with a particular focus on internet censorship in China and Africa as well as the reintroduction of trade barriers around the globe.