The Falkland/Malvinas islands, the Egalitarian Shared
Sovereignty and borders, defense and natural resources
We
introduced the EGALITARIAN SHARED SOVEREIGNTY last time. Today we will present
some key elements related to the Falkland/Malvinas islands.
From our
previous posts, we have learnt so far that some of the main concerns related to
the Falkland/Malvinas islands are:
Borders
This
could be a matter of controversy. In the particular case of the
Falkland/Malvinas Islands, although it may seem that borders are not an
issue—as they are islands—the exclusive economic zone often creates tension
between Argentina and the United Kingdom. For instance:
- Who has the right to explore that exclusive sea-zone
- What happens in the zone in which Argentina and the Falkland/Malvinas Islands overlap?
As this point is intrinsically
linked to natural resources, it will be examined after introducing the latter.
Defense
National
defense will be seen here as the protection of any interest a State has—e.g.
possessions, territory, and population—through different means—e.g. military,
economic, and diplomatic.
There are several States in which the army and navy
are not big, well equipped or trained enough in order to defend their territory
or population but they are still respected as States.
There are others that in fact
do not have military defense at all, their defense being the responsibility of
another country or an international organization—e.g. NATO.
There
seems to be no problem with defense. The territory being defended is obviously
desirable although the task is one which can be shared.
- However, what would happen if another party—i.e. a sovereign State with no part in the conflict—decided to invade the third territory?
- In the hypothetical scenario a fourth party decided to invade the Falkland/Malvinas islands, who would defend them? The ways in which the situation may develop are as follows:
- both Argentina and the United Kingdom may remain neutral; consequently, the new agent would take over the Falklands/Malvinas if the inhabitants were unable to defend themselves;
- one of the sovereign States may respond to the invasion and defend the third territory; c) both sovereign States may respond to the invasion and defend jointly or independently the third territory.
Natural resources
Natural
resources are any material in raw condition present in the territory, organic
or mineral, that is not initially a product of any kind of human activity. Some
States are rich in natural resources, others are not: no particular amount of
natural resources defines a State.
But, the distribution of natural resources
is usually one of the main problems when dealing with sovereignty disputes even
though the involved sovereign States may already be wealthy ones; it is a
feature that always presents controversy.
In
the case of the Falkland/Malvinas islands any decision over this point has
particular importance since it could affect in the future the legal and
political status in Antarctica.
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: The Falklands/Malvinas islands, the Egalitarian Shared Sovereignty and
defense
Monday 21st October 2019
Dr Jorge Emilio Núñez
Twitter: @London1701
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