World of Walls: The Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers

Edited by: Said Saddiki

Book review by: Ahmed El Morabety

Published by: Cambridge: OpenBook Publishers

Year of publication: 2017

ISBN: 978-1-78374-369-8

This book explores one of the major paradoxical aspects of the globalization phenomenon. This paradox reveals that an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world is simultaneously marked by intensified securitization and militarization of national borders. Since border studies is an interdisciplinary field of knowledge, Saddiki bases his academic research on different approaches to deal with boundary fencing policies all over the world, in general, and in five case studies, in particular, namely: the fencing policy of Israel; border fencing in India; the fences of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco; the US–Mexico border policy; and, finally, the Western Sahara Wall in southern Morocco. Accordingly, the author uses a set of integrated, historical, geopolitical and functional approaches, but also other concepts and modern paradigms developed in the field of contemporary border studies.

Read full text here

World of Walls: The Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers