The first ideal image of a society was a fortress.
The Babylonian story of Gilgamesh praises cities for their sturdy walls. The Old Testament idealises societies with walls of bronze.
Paradise on the inside, walls on the outside, and a failed cosmos around: the appeal of isolationism has been present across the world and throughout history.
It particularly characterises societies on the decline. But here is another lesson from history: walls and isolationism do not work, ...
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Jonathan Holslag is a professor of international politics at the Free University of Brussels and author of Peace and War.