Borders are Back, Baby: From Trump and Transylvania to Brexit and Bolivia's Navy

Sep 1, 2025

Jonn Elledge, author of A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders, dives into the resurgence of borders in today's political landscape. He argues that nationalism is on the rise, partly due to economic stagnation since 2016, which complicates migration and resource distribution. The discussion traverses odd borders, from Kaliningrad's complex history to Bolivia’s unique naval status despite being landlocked. Elledge reveals how maps influence leaders’ decisions and reflects on the challenges of global collaboration in a newly territorial world.

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ANECDOTE

Trump's Oval Office Map Example

Andrew Keen introduces Trump's Oval Office map of Ukraine as an example of how leaders use maps to shape policy.
The map influenced Trump's thinking about the Ukraine war and illustrates the political power of visual borders.

INSIGHT

Globalization's Political Retreat

Nationalism's resurgence since 2016 reflects a breakdown of the prior globalization consensus.
Jonn Elledge links this shift to stagnant economic growth that makes generous migration and redistribution harder to sustain.

INSIGHT

Why Borders Remain Politically Necessary

Territorial division is inevitable for modern politics because people need to know who they pay taxes to and whose laws apply.
Elledge argues economic forces previously pushed integration, but slower growth reduces tolerance for open borders.

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Globalization is dying, maybe even dead. Borders are back, baby. That’s the message in Jonn Elledge’s sparkling Brief History of the World in 47 Borders. In this romp around world history , Elledge introduces us to 47 of the world’s oddest borders including particularly weird ones in Detroit, Kaliningrad and Bolivia. So should be celebrating or mourning the rebirth of the border? Elledge is in mourning. A self-described progressive who grew up on Star Trek dreams of planetary unity, he sees nationalism's resurgence since 2016 as "quite a bad thing." He blames economic stagnation—when the pie stops growing, generous approaches to migration and distribution become much harder to sustain. I’m more sanguine. Whatever globalist bureaucrats at the UN or EU promised us, borders were never going away. As a species, we humans are agoraphobic. The Trekkies are wrong. The claustrophobia of the border is what gives us our sense of space.

1. Borders are having a political moment - The "liberal hegemony" that promised borderless globalization has been collapsing since 2016 (Brexit, Trump), making nationalism and territorial division the dominant political force again.

2. Economic stagnation drives border obsession - When economies aren't growing and people aren't getting richer, generous policies on migration and wealth distribution become much harder to sustain politically.

3. Maps shape leaders' minds - Trump's fixation on his Oval Office Ukraine map shows how visual representations of territory directly influence foreign policy decisions and geopolitical thinking.

4. Most "historic" borders are recent inventions - What we assume are natural, ancient boundaries (like the Berlin Wall, Bangladesh, or even Germany's division) are often just decades old, showing how arbitrary our sense of "normal" geography really is.

5. Borders create unexpected consequences - From Bolivia maintaining a navy despite being landlocked to Detroit's expansion bankrupting the city, where you draw lines has profound, often unintended effects on politics, economics, and culture for generations.

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