Welcome to the third issue of International Analytics for 2026 1. In modern studies of international relations, discussions of the changing world order, the emergence of new centers of power and the weakening of former hegemons have become commonplace. Discussions about a polycentric world, the crisis of the traditional models of alliance and integration, the weakening of the institutions of international law and the increasing power factor, stimulated the interest of researchers in studying the role and meaning of borders.
2. Until relatively recently, many authors described borders almost as a fading nature. The end of the Cold War, globalization, the intensification of migration processes and international cooperation were considered prerequisites for overcoming multiple spatial barriers. The images of the wall destroyed by Berlin and the destroyed "Iron Curtain" between West and East are meant to reinforce ideas about the "end of territories". Inspired by the famous futurist work of Francis Fukuyama, the French political geographer Bertrand Bady proposed his metaphor for a new world without dividing lines, "the end of the territories". 3. However, the "end of territory", like the "end of history", did not come. "A world without borders" remains a beautiful utopia. Today we are not witnessing a free distribution of resources in the markets, but their rationing as a result of the activity of various hierarchical structures, mainly nation states. An unequivocal positive perception of globalization trends gave way to a rational calculation of costs and purchases. Even the harbinger of the "end of history", a quarter of a century after his failed predictions, had to admit: interest in national and religious identity issues is increasing everywhere in the world, and resentment has become a real global phenomenon.
4. Our new issue is dedicated to the role of borders in the modern world.