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Reshaping Power, Shifting BoundariesBorders, Fences and Walls  - Do good fences make smart borders?Chair :  Dr. Charles-Philippe DavidIn the 1990s, when the talk was of globalization and peace dividends, walls, as such, seemed to be becoming redundant. Analysts observed the declining importance of the border and its growing irrelevance; indeed, some foresaw its disappearance and the advent of a borderless world. The globalization literature posited a growing challenge to the state-centred world order which would wipe away the perimeters of the state. Borders were believed to be artefacts of an old, and rapidly disappearing world order, and would surely be seen as such by states and state governments. Nevertheless, some 26,000 kilometres of new political borders have been established since 1991 and states have declared their intention to dig in behind fences, barriers and built structures. Increasingly, these built structures include the means for forestalling and even refusing entry to migrants and goods. While some saw in this “the end of history” or even “the end of geography”, the truth is that no such borderless world materialized. The fall of the Berlin Wall did not mean the end of security arrangements, and security infrastructures like fortified borders, even in a highly globalized world. Instead it signalled the beginning of a new era of security arrangements focusing on borders and borderlines. Indeed, some twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, this panel proposes to raise the issue and to analyze the factors that have led to the resurgence of the fences and walls in a borderless world.Session:                    General PoolLanguage:                    Englishhttp://www.ipsa.org/my-ipsa/events/madrid2012/panel/borders-fences-and-walls-do-good-fences-make-smart-borders