One Hopeful Thing About the Brexit Electoral Rebellion

The world is abuzz over Brexit, the United Kingdom’s decision to exit the European Union (EU). Is it a victory for freedom, democracy, and national integrity? Or is it a racist retreat into xenophobia and isolationism? Will the EU itself survive or is this the beginning of itsdisintegration? As I reflect on these questions, I realize they raise essential issues that have profound implications far beyond Europe about how we set and manage boundaries.

We are only beginning to come to terms with the reality that we are a global species dependent on one living Earth. Consequently, we now must deal with a far greater degree of interdependence than ever before. We have only begun to recognize, let alone address, the implications of the boundaries within which we manage these relationships.

This lack of understanding is evident in the shallowness of the public debates about Brexit and international agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). These debates center on national boundaries and a choice between extremes. Should national boundaries be erased, as the European Union does with trade, migration, and investment? Or should they be marked by impenetrable walls with armed guards at designated entry points, as Donald Trump proposes?

Let’s start with basics. Life’s ability to self-organize depends on boundaries. At the lowest system level, a living cell manages a constant flow of water, information, nutrients, and energy within itself and in constant exchange with its environment. To maintain the integrity of its internal processes and its essential exchange with its environment—including neighboring cells—it must maintain a permeable and managed cell wall. If that wall becomes either impermeable or is breached in ways that imperil the cell’s integrity, the cell dies.

The need for permeable, managed boundaries repeats at each system level. For the human body, the skin manages the boundary; natural barriers such as mountains, shorelines, and deserts manage the boundaries of ecosystems, and the atmosphere manages Earth’s boundary with outer space.