The
issues at stake in TERRITORIAL DISPUTES are many. According to Huth, we may
refer to:
CONSTANT
ISSUES AT STAKE
- Strategic location of the territory
- Ties to bordering minority
- Political unification
- Economic value of the territory
INTERNATIONAL
CONTEXT
- Balance of military forces
- Prior gain of territory
- Common alliance
- Previous settlement
DOMESTIC
CONTEXT
- Prior unresolved dispute
- Prior loss of territory
- Decolonization norm
Huth, Paul K. 2001. Standing Your Ground. Territorial Disputes and International Conflict. The University of Michigan Press.
From
the above classification it is clear that some elements are constant or,
arguably, more relevant to result in a TERRITORIAL DISPUTE. The examples go
from strategic location and economic value of the territory to political
unification and bordering minorities. As any classification, these are issues
considered in theory separated. In the real world, a given TERRITORIAL DISPUTE
may be a combination of two or more of these elements. Cases such as
Falkland/Malvinas islands and Gibraltar (despite their many particularities that
make them different in many aspects) offer several theoretical similarities. We
can easily observe on both cases strategic location and economic value of the
territory argued by the United Kingdom, Argentina, Spain, the Falkland/Malvinas
islanders and the Gibraltarians. Similarly, the cases of Kashmir and Northern
Ireland share in common theoretical elements helpful in order to better
understand these disputes: political unification and bordering minorities.
The
international and domestic context play a part too. Prior gain of the
territory, previous settlement, prior unresolved dispute, prior loss of
territory and the decolonization norm are central to many TERRITORIAL DISPUTES
in Central and South America, Africa, Central, East and South East Asia.
Bearing
these different issues very briefly mentioned here the next posts will
introduce many examples of actual TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. It is important to
think of them as multi-level phenomena with different reasons behind them that
have to do with cultural, legal, historical, sociological, geographical,
financial elements and many others.
8th
March 2018
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