Since the 1990s, the function of borders has changed

  Given Germany’s status as the European Union’s largest member country (economically and demographically), this changing of the guard has understandably spurred global interest in the state of German politics and the country’s economy.

What holds together this country of some 83 million people (one in five of whom is a first- or second-generation immigrant), a nation-state that has essentially open borders with all nine of its neighbors and one of the world’s most open economies?

https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/crises-of-modernity-according-to-german-sociology-by-helmut-k-anheier-2021-12