Borders don't close on their own. They are negotiated, outsourced, and monetized through a diplomacy of containment, in which peripheral countries cease to be mere transit points and begin to act as involuntary managers of the security anxieties of central countries.

One in four migrants in Germany is already considering leaving. This potential "brain drain" exposes a central dilemma: while tightening migration rules, Germany risks losing precisely the talent it needs.