Episode 2303: Isaac Stanley-Becker on a Europe without Borders

The world is shutting its borders to immigrants. Yesterday, we featured a conversation with Laurie Trautman who dates the Covid crisis of 2020 as the tragic moment when the entire world closed its doors to immigrants. But even in the internationalist EU, border policy is tightening. According to Washington Post’s Isaac Stanley-Becker, author of the new book Europe Without Borders: A History, borders have emerged as a critical geopolitical flashpoint within the EU. Against this backdrop, Stanley-Becker examines the 40-year history of Europe's Schengen Agreement, which eliminated internal borders between participating European nations. He explores how this landmark agreement, signed in 1985 in a small Luxembourg town, represented both a practical economic arrangement and a bold experiment in post-war European integration. Stanley-Becker reveals the complex negotiations between France and Germany that drove the initiative, as well as how the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 dramatically reshaped the agreement's implementation. He also delves into current challenges to Schengen, including the rise of populist parties, immigration pressures, and Germany's recent decision to reinstate border controls. Through this historical lens, Stanley-Becker offers valuable context for understanding how Europe's experiment with borderless travel relates to an illiberal world now shutting its borders to immigrants.Isaac Stanley-Becker is staff writer at the Washington Post focusing on intelligence and national security. He has been an investigative reporter on the national staff and reported from across Europe. He earned his PhD in history from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar. He was part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2024 for “American Icon,” a series exploring the role of the AR-15 in American life.Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe