Europe Without Borders: The Rise and Partial Fall of the Schengen Zone. A Conversation with Isaac Stanley-Becker.

In this week’s episode of then & now, we are joined by Dr. Isaac Stanley-Becker, a reporter on intelligence and national security issues for The Washington Post, to examine the rise and partial fall of the Schengen Zone amid ongoing and polarizing debates regarding immigration policy. Through the lens of his dual expertise as a journalist and a historian, Isaac explores the origins and historical progression of the Schengen Zone in his recent publication, Europe Without Borders. Established in 1985, the Schengen Zone was created as an area facilitating free movement across Europe in the aftermath of World War II, symbolizing European unity and liberal internationalism. However, contemporary discourse frequently associates it with Europe’s migration crisis, fueling a backlash against globalization. While the Schengen Zone has significantly transformed European society, it has also consistently excluded non-Europeans, particularly migrants of color from former colonies of the Schengen member states. Isaac concludes with the assertion that the Schengen Zone is currently facing a precarious situation. Highlighting the rising prevalence of illiberal populism and anti-immigrant fury in both Europe and the United States, he posits that if Europe can develop and implement a more effective burden-sharing system for asylum seekers, the viability of the Schengen Zone could be maintained in a more coherent manner.

Isaac Stanley-Becker is a staff writer for The Washington Post, focusing on intelligence and national security. With a PhD in history from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar, he has been an investigative reporter on the national staff and reported from across Europe. He recently published Europe without Borders: A History (Princeton University Press 2025), an investigation into the origins and development of the Schengen area of Europe. He was also 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.

Further Reading

The Schengen Area

2015: The year of Europe's refugee crisis