Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?: What History Teaches Us about Strategic Barriers and International Security

Brent L. Sterling

Oct 2009 · Georgetown University Press

About this ebook

A number of nations, conspicuously Israel and the United States, have been increasingly attracted to the use of strategic barriers to promote national defense. In Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?, defense analyst Brent Sterling examines the historical use of strategic defenses such as walls or fortifications to evaluate their effectiveness and consider their implications for modern security.

Sterling studies six famous defenses spanning 2,500 years, representing both democratic and authoritarian regimes: the Long Walls of Athens, Hadrian’s Wall in Roman Britain, the Ming Great Wall of China, Louis XIV’s Pré Carré, France’s Maginot Line, and Israel’s Bar Lev Line. Although many of these barriers were effective in the short term, they also affected the states that created them in terms of cost, strategic outlook, military readiness, and relations with neighbors. Sterling assesses how modern barriers against ground and air threats could influence threat perceptions, alter the military balance, and influence the builder’s subsequent policy choices.

Advocates and critics of strategic defenses often bolster their arguments by selectively distorting history. Sterling emphasizes the need for an impartial examination of what past experience can teach us. His study yields nuanced lessons about strategic barriers and international security and yields findings that are relevant for security scholars and compelling to general readers.

Ratings and reviews

In an age of persistent conflict and constant change, Sterling does an important job by reminding the reader how vulnerability now can lead to significant strategic implications. He presents an historical analysis of six defenses which, at various times and places, served to provide their builders with a sense of security. Sterling asks, "Did they work? What effect did these barriers actually have, and what does that mean today?" It seems that Frost's sarcastic aphorism of "good fences make good neighbors" resonates today. While many of these barriers did protect certain localities for certain periods, in the end, they were too expensive to be maintained and--in most cases--projected not power but ill-will in the long-run. As the United States ponders a border wall with Mexico and Israel a fence shared with Palestine, they would be well-advised to heed the prospects of history. While building walls is finite and easy to measure, policy makers should consider the long-term risks and opportunities involved. Sterling notes that was is really needed for true solutions is a combined approach of diplomacy and power: "...an earnest joint wall-accommodation approach entails some policy and short-term political risk for leaders, but leaders need to appreciate that without this approach, the longer-term risk compounds" (328).

About the author

Brent L. Sterling is an adjunct lecturer at the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He has spent the past twenty years as a defense analyst, including positions at the Central Intelligence Agency and consulting firms that support the Department of Defense.