Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Borders of the "New World"

Frank Jacobs and Parag Khanna look at new states and mutating borders of the near future in an article for the New York Times Magazine. We have stressed the permeability of national borders in class and the artificial nature of the Westphalian system, and these two authors speculate about areas where national self-determination, combined with weak states, may create a "new world." 

In class, we also looked at Ralph Peters' article "A Better Middle East." Jacobs and Khanna may have read the Peters article, but their piece has an interactive map and is a fun read.