In
order to better understand what a territorial dispute is we have to be familiar
with basic vocabulary used in law, politics and international relations. Two
key words must be introduced: STATE and SOVEREIGNTY. That is because in all
territorial disputes we will have at least one STATE claiming exclusive
SOVEREIGNTY over a territory.
International
public law offers a definition in article 1 of the Montevideo Convention of
Rights and Duties of states (1933) that declares:
“The state as a person of international law
should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a
defined territory; c) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with
the other states.”
In
tune with this definition the Oxford Dictionary of Law says:
“to qualify as a state the entity must have:
(1) a permanent population […]; (2) a defined territory […]; (3) an effective
government.”
Martin,
Elizabeth A. and Law, Jonathan, ed. 2006. A Dictionary of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Therefore,
a STATE has three key elements:
- TERRITORY
- POPULATION
- GOVERNMENT (and LAW)
In
very simple terms, that means that in principle:
- Territories without people cannot be a state.
- People without territory cannot be a state (e.g. Tibetans).
- A group of people living in a territory without a government (independent from any other source of law) cannot be a state (e.g. Catalonia).
These
three elements (territory, population and government) require one specific
characteristic to be considered a fully fleshed state. What is that characteristic?
It is SOVEREIGNTY.
There
are many definitions of SOVEREIGNTY. A current and comprehensive definition of
SOVEREIGNTY says:
“[Sovereignty is] a Supreme authority in a
state. In any state sovereignty is vested in the institution, person, or body
having the ultimate authority to impose law on everyone else in the state and
the power to alter any pre-existing law. […] In international law, it is an
essential aspect of sovereignty that all states should have supreme control
over their internal affairs […]”
Martin,
Elizabeth A. and Law, Jonathan, ed. 2006. A Dictionary of Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bringing
these two concepts together: STATE and SOVEREIGNTY we have that a SOVEREIGN
STATE is a group of people (POPULATION) who lives in a piece of land
(TERRITORY) and has a common government EXCLUSIVELY able to create the highest
law for them in that land.
Therein,
there is a territorial dispute when more than one government (or group of
people) aims to EXCLUSIVELY have sovereignty over the same territory.
NOTE:
This post is based on Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Territorial Disputes and State
Sovereignty: International Law and Politics,” London and New York: Routledge,
Taylor and Francis Group, 2020 (forthcoming)
Previous
published research monograph about territorial disputes and sovereignty by the
author, Jorge Emilio Núñez, “Sovereignty Conflicts and International Law and
Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue,” London and New York: Routledge, Taylor
and Francis Group, 2017.
NEXT
POST: State and its elements
Tuesday 17th September 2019
Dr Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
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