Anobstacle (also called abarrier,impediment, orstumbling block) is an object, thing, action or situation that causes anobstruction.[1] A obstacle blocks or hinders our way forward. Different types of obstacles include physical,economic,biopsychosocial, cultural, political, technological and military.
As physical obstacles, we can enumerate all those physical barriers that block the action and prevent the progress or the achievement of a concrete goal. Examples:
architectural barriers that hinder access to people with reduced mobility;
doors, gates, andaccess control systems, designed to keep intruders or attackers out;
large objects, fallen trees or collapses through passageways, paths, roads, railroads, waterways or airfields, preventing mobility;
intennis andvolleyball, a net stands as an obstacle that divides the court;
in thecycling,motorcycle andmotor racing, circuit designs are interposed with difficult paths to obstruct and render more difficult the competition;
in team sports, likesoccer,football,basketball and volleyball, attack players are hampered by defensive players, that make it difficult to move or throw the ball towards the goal;
in other sports, such asParkour, the competitor aims to move from one point to another in the most fluid and fast as possible, jumping obstacles of urban architecture that get in the way.
Obstacles or difficulties which groups of citizens, theirpolitical representatives,political parties or countries interpose to each other in order to hinder the actions of certain of their opponents, such as:
the blocking of the international political and economicinfluence of a country by amultilateral treaty or alliance between countries opposed to such influence.
The improvement of living conditions of any human community is constantly challenged by the need of technologies still inaccessible or unavailable, which can be internally developed or acquired from other communities that have already developed them, and in both cases must overcome such barriers as:
in thetechnology transfer between different countries, the trade and diplomatic negotiating skills with the countries which are providers of the desired new technologies;
in the internal development approach, the educational level of the community or country, the accessible collection of specialized information, their technological and industrial base, their institutional level of scientific and technological research, development and innovation, and the level of practiced international collaboration.
When different communities or countries, which border or not, cannot develop good relations, for economic, cultural or political reasons, they may exceed the limits of diplomatic negotiations, creating military defensive or offensive obstacles to their opponents or enemies, such as:
blocking or destroying physical resources orlogistic interconnections, such as bridges, highways, ports or airports, creating barriers tomigration, trade, tourism, etc.;
the invasion of the opponent's territory, seeking to block, destroy or use physical, logistical or strategic resources, in order to hinder existing threats.
