Figure 23 Varieties of International land borders

INTERNATIONAL BORDERLANDS

International boundaries are widely regarded as irreversible and historic boundaries. Even in a twenty-first-century world of innovations, progress, and change, land border placements are revered as long-standing and permanent. On a standard world political map, all borders between sovereign states are the same, consisting of simple lines separating one country from another. In reality, borders vary greatly. Border disparities have grown in recent decades. Europe has seen a massive softening of borders; first, the Iron Curtain fell, and then the Schengen Agreement allowed unrestricted movement across most state borders. (Newman 2006)

Borders have hardened in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and elsewhere during the same period, as evidenced by the massive construction of "separation barriers." Some of these barriers are intended to keep militants out, while others are intended to keep immigrants out.

Figure 23 Varieties of International land borders

The Geocurrents map depicts the polar opposites of liberty and defence. The international borders within the Schengen area are depicted in blue, with lighter blue indicating the planned expansion of Schengen territory to include Romania and Bulgaria. The colour red denotes barricaded borders, both existing and in the process of being built. Severe suggestions for new barriers are highlighted in orange. Maritime borders and land boundaries that are too small to be visible on a map of this scale are ignored. Heavy fortified borders, such as those separating Israel from Lebanon, Gaza from Egypt, Northern Cyprus from the rest of the island, and the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco, are not included. Hard barriers within sovereign states, such as the one that separates Hong Kong from mainland China, are also prohibited, as are those that do not correspond to internationally recognised borders, such as

Western Sahara's "Moroccan Wall.