It's easy to think of borders as fixed, almost sacrosanct lines, so rooted in the natural order of things that it often doesn't occur to us to question them. But borders were not always thought of this way. In fact, the notion of well understood, and agreed upon boundaries between nations is somewhat new.
For much of history, these territorial divisions were as vague as they were volatile. From the sprawling frontiers of the Ottoman Empire to the contested edges of our original thirteen colonies, borders have come a long way to become regarded as they are now. This hour, we talk with experts about the past, present and future of borders around the world.
GUESTS:
- Nick Danforth- Middle East policy expert and writer for The Atlantic; creator of The Afternoon Map blog
- Mark Stein- Playwright and author of the book, How The States Got Their Shapes
- Victoria Johnson- Cartographer from MacFadden in Washington DC
- Elisabeth Vallet- Professor at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair of Strategic and Diplomatic Studies, Borders in Globalization research program at the University of Quebec. Author of, Borders, Fences and Walls
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Colin McEnroe, Chion Wolf, and Greg Hill contributed to this show.
