backtracking re: European integration
The modernist trajectories have hit a peak of their momentum in the direction of globalization, integration, centralization, homogenization, etc.
Now comes the reaction as it’s felt to be unnatural, misguided, untenable.
An “open borders” policy is a recipe for resentment and such reaction.
I have no interest in these modern nation-states or their borders. But under the current (sorry) geopolitical paradigm the borders are what they are (for the time being).
If you are a fan of open borders … consider how the Palestinians viewed the flood of Zionists into their homeland 1920–1940. It was experienced as influx, encroachment, and worse.
What makes age-old sense is that a people feel an identification with a territory, their place-on-earth. It needs to be respected. It will make even more sense when the pattern reverts to a bioregional reorganization of society.