International Relations and Territorial Wars

Running head: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND TERRITORIAL WARS
International Relations and Territorial Wars
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1INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND TERRITORIAL WARS
As stated by Knutsen1, the concept of international relations had gained a significant
amount of prominence within the framework of the contemporary political arena because of
the ever increasing number of disputes that the different nations of the world are having with
their neighboring nations and others. Chinkin and Kaldor2 are of the viewpoint that the
concept of international relations is mainly concerned with the management of effective
relationships across boundaries of nation-states. More importantly, the concept also
encompasses various issues like international political economy, intercultural relations,
global governance, foreign policy analysis, developmental issues and others3. The net result
of this is that the concept of international relations is increasingly being seen as a multi-
disciplinary domain which not only analyses the different international issues from the
perspective of different methods or models but at the same time tries to find solutions for the
same as well. This paper will analyze the concept of territorial disputes, among the South-east
Asian nations and the probable risk of war that they pose, from the perspective of
international relations.
As opined by Thompson4, the concept of territorial dispute can be defined as any
form of disagreement or conflict between two or more nations for the possession of the land
that they share amongst them. Kingsbury and Laoutides5 are of the viewpoint that the
territorial disputes have formed the root-cause of numerous conflicts between the different
nations of the world since the traditional times and even in the present age numerous disputes
are still going on because of this dispute. In this regard, mention needs to be made of the land
1 Knutsen, Torbjørn L. A history of international relations theory. Oxford University Press, 2016.
2 Chinkin, Christine, and Mary Kaldor. International law and new wars. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
3 Gilpin, Robert. The political economy of international relations. Princeton University Press, 2016.
4 Thompson, Paul. Peace and war: a theory of international relations. Routledge, 2017.
5 Kingsbury, Damien, and Costas Laoutides, eds. Territorial separatism in global politics: Causes, outcomes
and resolution. Routledge, 2015.

2INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND TERRITORIAL WARS
dispute between the nations of India and Pakistan which had been going on since 1947 and
this in turn is adversely affecting the security as well as the stability of these two nations in a
significant manner6. For example, the nation of Pakistan claims that the state of Kashmir
which presently forms a part of the nation of India belongs to them and on the basis of this
dispute wars like Kargil (1999) and others have been fought by them over the years7. In this
context, it needs to be said that although the United Nations and the different first world
nations like USA, UK and others had tried to intervene in the matter and resolve yet no
consensus had been reached till now. More importantly, in the present times it is seen that the
territorial disputes or conflicts are not just limited to the lands but encompasses the oceans or
the seas as well. One of the most important disputes in this regard which had become a major
problem for the various South-east Asian nations is the dispute over the South China Sea. For
example, it is seen that there are many nations like Brunei, People's Republic of China
(PRC), Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and
others which are fighting to gain supremacy in the region8. The situation become so intense
that the ‘United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)’ had to intervene in
the above mentioned maritime dispute however China had refused to abide by the 2016
verdict of the UNCLOS9.
According to Li10, the territories of the different nations of the world are being fixed
on mutual accord between the neighboring states and also on the basis of the consent of the
6 Hoffman, Blake, Paul F. Diehl, Andrew Owsiak, Gary Goertz, and Yahve Gallegos. "What’s So Peaceful
about Asian Peace?." Asian International Studies Review 19, no. 1 (2018): 49-73.
7 Remme, Tilman. Britain and Regional Cooperation in South-East Asia, 1945-49 (RLE Modern East and South
East Asia). Routledge, 2015.
8 Catherine K. Le and Michael A. McDevitt, “Maritime Security Issues in East Asia,” Center for Naval
Analyses (CNA) Maritime Asia Project: Workshop Four, September 2013 (Washington D.C.: Center for Naval
Analyses, 2013).
9 Clive Schofield, “Untangling a Complex Web: Understanding Competing Maritime Claims in the South China
Sea,” in Ian Storey and Lin Cheng-yi (eds.), The South China Sea Dispute: Navigating Diplomatic and Strategic
Tensions (Singapore: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 2016), pp. 21-46
10 Li, Rex. "Identity Tensions and China-Japan-Korea Relations: Can Peace be Maintained in North East Asia?."
In Identity, Trust, and Reconciliation in East Asia, pp. 47-73. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018.

3INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND TERRITORIAL WARS
United Nations. However, over the years it had noticed that despite these initiatives among
the diverse tangible conflicts that the different nations face, the territorial disputes are
perhaps the most important ones which is related to the territorial boundaries of the nations or
the states itself11. In this regard, it needs to be said that the territory of any nation signifies the
geographical parameter of the concerned nation and also the values, beliefs and other aspects
of the lives of the people who dwell in the concerned nation12. The net result of this is that the
states or the nations try to maintain as well as defend their territorial boundary against their
neighboring states or nations. In the present times, it is seen that the different nations try to
offer monetary benefits to the nations whose territories they have taken however this is not
such an easy task since the nations do not always forget the territories that they have lost. In
this regard, mention needs to be made of the nation of Germany, which took the French
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine in 1871 however as per the terms of the settlement of the
First World War, France reclaimed those provinces from Germany13. Thus, it can be said that
the territories of any nation are not merely geographical parameters for them but form an
essential element of their nation and national pride itself.
Lin and Gertner14 have articulated the viewpoint that competition over territories
and territorial boundaries have formed the major source of conflict or dispute between the
nations of the world over the years. More importantly, it is seen that these territorial disputes
inevitably result in various kinds of inter-nation wars, conflicts, disputes, terrorism activities
and others which in turn affect the stability of all the nations involved in the process15. In
11 Campbell, Joel. "Japan steps up its game: Tokyo's new security approach and its relations with
Asia." International Affairs 94, no. 4 (2018): 911-920.
12 Harff, Barbara. Ethnic conflict in world politics. Routledge, 2018.
13 Thompson, Paul. Peace and war: a theory of international relations. Routledge, 2017.
14 Lin, Kun-Chin, and Andrés Villar Gertner. "Maritime Security in the Asia-Pacific." Research Paper (2015).
15 Beukel, Erik. The last living fossil of the cold war: The two Koreas, the dragon and the eagle . No. 2012: 10.
DIIS Report, 2012.