Enduring Territorial Disputes

Of all the issues in international relations, disputes over territory are the most salient and most likely to lead to armed conflict. In this study, Krista E. Wiegand examines why some states are willing and able to settle territorial disputes while others are not.

Heightened tensions in the South China Sea have raised serious concerns about the dangers of conflict in this region as a result of unresolved, complex territorial disputes. This volume offers detailed insights into a range of country-perspectives, addressing the historical, legal, structural, regional and multilateral dimensions of these disputes

A collection of essays which examine the crucial role of territory in the initiation, evolution, escalation and resolution of interstate and international conflict. It contains 2 maps and 29 tables and is edited by the editor of THE DYNAMICS OF ENDURING RIVALRIES.

Abstract: In the last five years, tensions have increased between China and a number of neighboring states over territorial disputes in the East and South China Sea. In some cases, there have even been threats of armed conflicts. China's increasingly aggressive behavior has stoked fears that long-simmering conflicts could escalate. This dismal picture began to brighten considerably, however, in the last half of 2014. In November, in the run-up to several important international summit meetings in the region, including the ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS), the parties to the conflicts began cautiously moving closer to one another and the security situation improved. Nevertheless, the drivers of the conflicts remain unchanged. They include conflicting territorial claims, strategic misperceptions, and contested regional orders. (author's abstract)

For a long time, India and China have been seen as the rising economic giants on the Asiatic mainland. Studies of the conflicts which have plagued the borderlands of India and China however have tended to only analyse individual case studies without attempting to compare and contrast the situation in these conflicts. This book compares and contrasts the situation in India’s disputed borderlands – Kashmir and the Indian north eastern states – with China’s contested borderlands – Xinjiang and Tibet. The book looks at the root causes of the conflict and how these conflicts have evolved and changed their character with the passage of time. Analysing how the countries have dealt with their territorial disputes from the 50’s till more recent times, the author shows to what extent these state policies have exacerbated the already strained situation. Using primary data collected primarily through interviews, from the people/inhabitants of these conflict zones, the book throws new light on the problem. This bottom up approach allows the people to speak and provides a different understanding of the nature of the conflict, which may very well be the way forward for long lasting peace. A comparative study of the conflicts in the contested borderlands of China and India, the book will be of interest to scholars studying Asian security studies and Asian Politics particularly and Defence and Security Studies more generally.

Douglas M. Gibler argues that threats to homeland territories force domestic political centralization within the state. Using an innovative theory of state development, he explains patterns of international conflict and democracy in the world over time.