5/9/19 Prep's Panel: Border Politics

On May 9th, seniors from Flintridge Prep's Border Politics class hosted a panel discussion, answering a range of questions-- like "How does the development of a physical barrier affect the relationship between nation-states?" and, “Should people be able to more freely across borders?”-- using research related to their respective concentrations.
Firstly, the Prep students began their panel by defining a border, be it geopolitical, virtual, or physical. Throughout their discussion, the students made sure to cover multiple perspectives on issues, explaining border conflicts in sometimes pragmatic logic, sometimes humanitarian logic. The panelists incorporated pertinent historical examples of various border conflicts in their answers to broader questions, referencing disputes between India and China, Israel and Palestine, and the Europe Migrant Crisis. Issues of asymmetrical power were discussed (see: China's One Belt, One Road initiative), as was economic disparity. One of the panelists helped to break down the border conflict between the U.S. and Mexico, explaining that even though Mexico and the U.S. have similar systems of governance, economic welfare in the two countries is drastically different: the average Mexican family takes in a monthly income of $843, while the average American family takes in $3,714 a month. Overall, I learned a lot from both panels, and now have a lot of notes about recent border conflicts to bring in to college with me.




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