Case Study Students will read chapter 1 of the Edward Alden text, The Closing of the American Border. Upon completion of the weekly Alden chapter reading assignment, students will then submit a one-page summation, outlining the chapter.  The summations should concentrate on thepolitical, cultural, ethnic and religious implications of this effort.  The summation should also cover the student's personal observations of successes and/or failures of America's efforts to secure its border pre & post 9/11. The weekly summation will not require formatting or references, but points will be taken off for lack of content, grammatical errors and/or for a late submission.  The weekly chapter summation will be worth 25 points each week, for a total of 175 points (the final chapter of the Alden book will be included in the final exam). Note that on week 8 of the course, students will use information from their submissions from The Closing of the American Border case studies as building points for their final exam. Chapter One One of the most well known examples of how borders are formed and how they can affect the lives of people occurred during and after World War II.  From 1940 to 1944 Germany and Italy invaded the European mainland, to which a large portion of the free world (allied forces) united to drive the invaders out.  When World War II ended, the U.S., the U.K. and the Soviet Union divided the occupied lands up, creating defined formal borders.  These borders were agreed upon by and were to be maintained by the three countries, however over time the politics of borders and who could and could not cross them became an issue an Germany eventually became a divided country; the East (Russia) and the West (the Free World).   This resulted in the Berlin Wall which was a border fence built to keep people in (the East) and those in the West out.  What were originally boundaries between occupation forces became barriers to human and commercial traffic and ultimately morphed into a formal border between two, politically and economically divergent countries.  The fence between East and West Germany became a physical border, protected with mine fields, wire fence that could only be cut with a torch, guard towers, lights, and armed forces with orders to shoot-to-kill people trying to “leave” rather than potential invading forces.  Eventually, in 1989 the Berlin Wall was taken down uniting Germany into one country;  the Federal Republic of Germany. The separation between East and West Germany was a political and economic barrier that has left remnants of “otherness” in some people’s minds.  A physical, political, and economic wall had separated people of the same ethnicity, language, and culture for nearly fifty years.  Twenty years after that barrier came down there are still political, social, and cultural repercussions. Our text outlines the difference between barriers, boundaries, and borders. Each has separate and unique functions while all are com ...

1. Case Study
Students will read chapter 1 of the Edward Alden text, The
Closing of the American Border.
Upon completion of the weekly Alden chapter reading
assignment, students will then submit a one-page summation,
outlining the chapter. The summations should concentrate on
thepolitical, cultural, ethnic and religious implications of this
effort. The summation should also cover the student's personal
observations of successes and/or failures of America's efforts to
secure its border pre & post 9/11.
The weekly summation will not require formatting or
references, but points will be taken off for lack of content,
grammatical errors and/or for a late submission. The weekly
chapter summation will be worth 25 points each week, for a
total of 175 points (the final chapter of the Alden book will be
included in the final exam). Note that on week 8 of the course,
students will use information from their submissions from The
Closing of the American Border case studies as building
points for their final exam.
Chapter One
One of the most well known examples of how borders are
formed and how they can affect the lives of people occurred
during and after World War II. From 1940 to 1944 Germany
and Italy invaded the European mainland, to which a large
portion of the free world (allied forces) united to drive the
invaders out. When World War II ended, the U.S., the U.K. and
the Soviet Union divided the occupied lands up, creating
defined formal borders. These borders were agreed upon by and

2. were to be maintained by the three countries, however over time
the politics of borders and who could and could not cross them
became an issue an Germany eventually became a divided
country; the East (Russia) and the West (the Free World). This
resulted in the Berlin Wall which was a border fence built to
keep people in (the East) and those in the West out. What were
originally boundaries between occupation forces became
barriers to human and commercial traffic and ultimately
morphed into a formal border between two, politically and
economically divergent countries. The fence between East and
West Germany became a physical border, protected with mine
fields, wire fence that could only be cut with a torch, guard
towers, lights, and armed forces with orders to shoot-to-kill
people trying to “leave” rather than potential invading forces.
Eventually, in 1989 the Berlin Wall was taken down uniting
Germany into one country; the Federal Republic of Germany.
The separation between East and West Germany was a political
and economic barrier that has left remnants of “otherness” in
some people’s minds. A physical, political, and economic wall
had separated people of the same ethnicity, language, and
culture for nearly fifty years. Twenty years after that barrier
came down there are still political, social, and cultural
repercussions.
Our text outlines the difference between barriers, boundaries,
and borders. Each has separate and unique functions while all
are common components of the modern political and economic
lines that separate countries, states, and counties. Natural
barriers and boundaries make some of the best borders because
of the inherent difficulties in crossing them. Geography is the
best example of a natural barrier and therefore natural
borders.Barrier is a material object that is intended to the block
passage of people and/or property. Barriers can include solid
walls, electric fences and mine fields.Boundary is line
(imaginary or physical) that fixes a limit. Boundaries can be
political, economic, legal, physical or mental.Border is an outer
edge, perimeter, periphery, or rim and are commonly used to

3. delineate national and political boundaries.
Geography, such as a mountain range has long been a barrier to
movement and in much of the world it still is. Many mountain
ranges have acted as natural barriers, boundaries, and borders.
An example of this type of border would be the Andes
mountains which is a continual mountain range that runs along
the west coast of South America. These nearly impenetrable
mountains form a natural physical barrier and therefore a
natural border between the Pacific and Atlantic countries of
South America. Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia all lay
along the western slopes while Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and
Venezuela lie along the eastern slopes.
Besides mountains there are many other natural geographical
barriers which can include oceans, rivers and straits. Both
North and South America consider the Atlantic and Oceans to
be natural barriers, shielding those continents from attack, due
to the vastness and difficulty of moving attacking forces across
these waters.
Another good example of a natural barrier for the U.S. would be
the Rio Grande River which has served as a natural barrier in
North America, establishing more of half the international
border between the United States and Mexico. Other natural
bodies of water that provide barriers in North America would
include the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River which comprise
a large portion of the international border between the U.S. and
Canada.
Another natural geographical barriers that make for excellent
boundaries are deserts. Deserts are good boundaries because
they are and as a result little can survive long without access to
water. Not only that, the extreme temperatures are detrimental
to human life (extreme heat by day and extreme cold by night).
In the U.S. the desert regions are essentially found across the
entire southwest of the United States and northwest expanse of
Mexico. Across this region are found several major deserts
stretching from Laredo, Texas to San Diego, California
including the Sonoran and Chihuahuan.

4. National borders are established in a variety of ways. Countries
begin with some sense by the people of commonality amongst
themselves and uniqueness from others. Often, that
commonality stems from a combination of language, ethnicity
and religion. This becomes the core component of the political
entity that establishes relationships with neighboring groups.
Over time, fixed, identifiable limits are placed on which group
controls a given area politically. Formal arrangements are
usually concluded by treaty (an agreement) which is usually
formalized through some sort of signed document.
The evolution of the modern nation state from the late 18th
century to the early 20th century corresponds with the absolute
claims to legal and political supremacy and the ascendance of
effective international law which has essentially been derived
from the will of nations. This all changed with the
establishment of the United Nations at the end of World War II.
With this came the modern era of international relations from
which we derive the current system of the law of nations.
Nations longer operated from the perspective of mutual respect
and abstention in the internal affairs of other nations, but
instead moved to the U.N. model of organized joint cooperation.
With this understanding of the origin and evolution of the law
of nations it is necessary to establish the identity of states. A
state is a “legal personality” or an “international legal person”
in proper terms. The Convention on Rights and Duties of States
(1933) defines in Article 1, “The state as a person of
international law should possess the following qualifications:
(a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c)
government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the
other states.” In Article 2, “The federal state shall constitute a
sole person in the eyes of international law.”
When does a “state” become a “state” is the subject of two
different theories:One says it is recognition of the “state” by an
established state(s). The other theory looks to the establishment
of facts that meet the criteria of statehood as laid down in
recognized international law (UIO, 1933).

5. As a result, a state may exist without being recognized by other
states. The primary function of international recognition is to
declare one country acknowledges the other state’s political
existence and as such is willing to treat that entity as an
international person, with the rights and obligations of States.
Collectively, the governmental powers of a state are referred to
as its sovereign powers. The fullest measure of sovereign
powers is exercised by a state over its land, air and coastal
territories which leads to the institution of borders between
nations.
Our text covers the ways which states can acquire more
territory;
Accretion. This is the expansion of a state’s territory by the
operation of nature. An example would include the shifting of
the course of a river, volcanism resulting in creation of new
landmass, and rivers laying down silt in their drainage basins.
Cession. This involves the transfer of sovereignty by means of
an agreement between the ceding and the acquiring states.
Conquest. This comes when one country acquires the territory
of another through military force and a declaration of the
conquering state’s intention to annex it.
Borders between countries frequently span land, rivers, and
lakes. In the Restatement, Second, Foreign Relations Law of the
United States (1965), these boundaries were defined in
subsection 12 as;The boundary separating the land areas of two
states is determined by acts of the states expressing their
consent to its location.Unless consent to a different rule has
been expressed, when the boundary between two states is a
navigable river, its location is the middle of the channel of
navigation;when the boundary between two states is a non-
navigable river or a lake, its location is the middle of the river
or lake (Wilkes, 1965).
Boundaries on oceans fall under a separate rule of law, the Law
of the Sea. The United Nations Conference on the Law of the
Sea in 1958 adopted four conventions which include;on the
Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone,on the High Seas,on

6. the Continental Shelf, andon Fishing and Conservation of the
Living Resources of the High Seas (United Nations Diplomatic
Conferences, 1958).
Because there where disagreements between countries a Third
Conference on the Law of the Sea was convened and in 1982
produced a new treaty with a variety of additional provisions.
The U.S. has never agreed to the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea and has only agreed with the part which
establishes the territorial waters of a country as extending 12
miles from the low-tide water line of the country’s landmass.
The contiguous zone is limited to 24 nautical miles from the
low-tide water line and a state may;exercise the control
necessary to: prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal,
immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory
or territorial sea;punish infringement of the above laws and
regulations committed within its territory or territorial sea
(United Nations Diplomatic Conferences, 1982)
Waters that are not parts of exclusive economic zones, within
the territorial sea, or the internal waters of a state, or in the
archipelagic waters of an archipelagic state are considered the
high seas. For hundreds of years international law saw the high
seas as belonging to everyone and under the U.N. Convention,
art. 87, the high seas “shall be reserved for peaceful purposes.”
The sovereignty of a state implies the right to regulate
commerce through taxation, tariffs, and prohibitions. This is
one of the fundamental core considerations of being an
independent nation. One of the key components of the U.S.
Constitution is the “Commerce Clause” in Article I, section 8
which says “The Congress shall have the power…. To regulate
commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States,
and with the Indian tribes.” Congress exercises this power
through passage of laws and imposition of taxes, duties,
imposts, and excises. In order to better address the growing
international trade experienced in the early 20th century, the
Congress established the U.S. International Trade Commission
(USITC) in 1974.

7. The USITC is a federal agency with investigative powers on
matters of trade. The activities of the USITC activities
include:Determining whether U.S. industries are materially
injured by reason of imports that benefit from pricing at less
than fair value or from subsidization;Directing actions against
unfair practices in import trade, such as patent, trademark, or
copyright infringement;Making recommendations regarding
relief for industries seriously injured by increasing
imports;Advising whether agricultural imports interfere with
price-support programs of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture;Conducting studies on trade and tariff issues and
monitoring import levels; Participating in the development of
uniform statistical data on imports, exports, and domestic
production and in the establishment of an international
harmonized commodity code (Legal Information Institute,
1974).
As with most things, there are always bad (unintended results)
to everything. Removing trade barriers between countries is no
exception. Agreements such as NAFTA, while good in general
has also produced some significant problems. One problem
NAFTA has taught us is the low standards of living in one
country results in lower wages for workers, such as is the case
in Mexico, which has placed companies here in the U.S. in a
position where the relocation of a factory from here to be more
profitable in the lower wage country. This “increasing the
bottom line” improves the financial reports of companies, at the
cost of lost employment in the original country.
This can also happen in the reverse. The agriculture industry
here in U.S. is extremely efficient in producing food which
results in relatively low food prices. These products, as a result
of treaties such as NAFTA are exported to countries like
Mexico where traditional food production methods are costly
and labor intensive, making the food prices there high. The
result of the agricultural U.S. exports into Mexico has resulted
in a loss of agricultural jobs in an inherently poor country.
Another thing the world is learning is the globalization of trade

8. is rapidly breaking down economic barriers between countries
worldwide. The result is that borders have begun to change in
function and purpose.
As history has taught us, there have been, and probably always
will be disputes regarding the boundaries between two
countries, or even territories that aspire to be recognized a
country (i.e. Palestinian). There are several ways these disputes
can/have been resolved.
A close to home example would be when the United States went
to war with Mexico in 1846 over a over a depute of where the
border was between Mexico and the State of Texas. At the
conclusion of the war, Mexico agreed to the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo in which Mexico ceded California, Nevada,
Utah, Arizona, most of New Mexico and Colorado and formerly
claimed lands north of the Rio Grande River.
Other disputes may go to national or international courts for
resolution. For example;the International Tribunal for the Law
of the Sea resolves disputes over access to mineral resources on
the seabed in regions not reserved to any state or territory.the
International Court of Justice resolves disputes over the
delimitation of boundaries along continental shelf between
States with opposite or adjacent coasts.
Many countries have gone to war over border and boundary
disputes. It is only the recent past that has seen a move to
negotiation and arbitration to resolve such disputes. An
example of a dispute over who possessed a particular territory
that ended in a military conflict is the Falklands War of 1982.
The conflict was the result of a protracted historical
confrontation regarding the sovereignty of the islands. The
long-standing dispute resulted in the Argentinean invasion and
occupation of the Islands on 2 April 1982. In response, the
British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the
Argentinean Navy and Air Force and retake the islands by
amphibious assault.
History has shown us disputes over borders are resolved through
a variety of methods. Anything from legal action, to tribunals,

9. to the use of military force has been utilized throughout time.
Another method of resolving continued border violations is for
a state to erect barriers.
According to our text, barriers are material objects that are
intended to block passage. Although natural formations such as
mountains or streams historically make the best barriers most
country borders are artificial delimits drawn on maps. This has
resulted in the need, in some instances, to erect physical
barriers to prevent, or limit, unwanted incursions across
borders.
When one thinks of manmade physical barrier, the "Great Wall
of China" is very most likely to come to mind. The wall built to
protect the Chinese Empire from intrusions by the various
nomadic peoples in Mongolia and Siberia. The Great Wall has
also effectively allowed China to control unwanted immigration.
The most contentious wall in recent history has been the wall
being built by Israel to isolate Jewish settlements from
encroachment by the native Palestinians living in the West
Bank. Israel has been building communities throughout the land
seized in a previous conflict under a variety of initiatives, with
frequent starts and stops as part of the ongoing and often stalled
peace process with the peoples of the occupied territories. The
Israelis refer to the wall as the “separation” or “security fence.”
Opponents to the structure refer to it as the “Apartheid Wall.”
Regardless of the name or the opinions of the world the
function on the barrier is clearly intended to suicide bombers
and snipers, primarily for Palestine, from launching attacks
against the Jewish population.
Modern manufactured barriers work on a small scale, but tend
to be cost prohibitive on a large scale. The border between the
U.S. and Canada is almost entirely devoid of barriers to
movement. The border between the U.S. and Mexico has
several natural barriers to movement including the Rio Grande
River and the extensive deserts. These have been insufficient in
stopping the movement of contraband and people into the U.S.
from Mexico. As a result, significant efforts are being

10. expended developing and constructing barriers of various types
to control illegal crossings.
The bottom line is any barrier constructed to restrict movement,
also hinders the free flow of commerce. This is the conundrum
facing engineers and politicians alike; how to build barriers to
keep out those not wanted, while allowing the movement of
people and commodities. This is the fundamental quandary
facing all nations throughout history. Securing a state’s
borders, whether by establishing economic or political
boundaries, or the construction of physical barriers, is the
subject of the remainder of this course.