Readings | Territorial Conflict | Political Science

Readings are also listed by session.

The following two books are available for purchase:

Herbst, Jeffrey. States and Power in Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780691010281.

Huth, Paul. Standing Your Ground: Territorial Disputes and International Conflict. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780472106899.

Reference Works

International Boundary Research Unit University of Durham. World Boundaries and Borderlands. 5 vols. London, UK: Routledge, 1994. ISBN: 9780415088404.

- Volume 1: Global Boundaries
- Volume 2: Middle East and North Africa
- Volume 3: Eurasia
- Volume 4: The Americas
- Volume 5: Maritime Bound

Allcock, John B. Border And Territorial Disputes. 3rd ed. Harlow, UK: Longman Group, 1992. ISBN: 9780582209312.

Anderson, Ewan. International Boundaries: Geopolitical Atlas . London, UK: Routledge, 2003. ISBN: 9781579583750.

———. Global Geopolitical Flashpoint: An Atlas Of Conflict . London, UK: Routledge, 2000. ISBN: 9781579581374.

———. An Atlas Of World Political Flashpoints: A Sourcebook Of Geopolitical Crisis. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1993. ISBN: 9780816028856.

Biger, Gideon, ed. The Encyclopedia of International Boundaries. New York, NY: Facts on File, 1995. ISBN: 9780816032334.

Blake, Gerald, ed. Boundaries And Energy: Problems And Prospects. Boston, MA: Kluwer Law International, 1998. ISBN: 9789041106568.

Downing, David. An Atlas of Territorial and Border Disputes. London, UK: New English Library, 1980. ISBN: 9780450048043.

Grundy-War, Carl, ed. International Boundaries and Conflict Resolution: Proceedings of the 1989 IBRU Conference. Durham, UK: International Boundaries Research Unit, 1990. ISBN: 9781855600003.

Luard, Evan.The International Regulation of Frontier Disputes. London, UK: Thames & Hudson, 1970. ISBN: 9780500250259.

Definitions

Hill, Norman L. Claims to Territory in International Law and Relations. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1945.

Anderson, Malcolm. Frontiers: Territory And State Formation In The Modern World. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1996, esp. pp. 12-76. ISBN: 9780745616520.

Huth, Paul K., and Todd Allee. The Democratic Peace and Territorial Conflict in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003, app. A. ISBN: 9780521805087.

Hensel, Paul, and Sara McLaughlin Mitchell. "The Issue Correlates of War."

Quantitative Research on Territory and War

Huth, Paul K., and Todd Allee. The Democratic Peace and Territorial Conflict in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Goertz, Gary, and Paul Diehl. Territorial Change and International Conflict. New York, NY: Routledge, 1992.

Senese, Paul D., and John A. Vasquez. "A Unified Explanation of Territorial Conflict: Testing the Impact of Sampling Bias, 1919-1992." International Studies Quarterly 47, no. 2 (June 2003): 275-298.

Kocs, Stephen A. "Territorial Disputes and Interstate War, 1945-1987." Journal of Politics 57, no. 1 (February 1995): 159-175.

Mandel, Robert. "Roots of the Modern Interstate Border Dispute." Journal of Conflict Resolution 24, no. 3 (1980): 427-454.

Diehl, Paul F. A Road Map To War: Territorial Dimensions Of International Conflict. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1999.

Huth, Paul K. "Territory: Why Are Territorial Disputes between States a Central Cause of International Conflict?" In What Do We Know About War? Edited by John Vasquez. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000, pp. 85-110. ISBN: 9780847699261.

Territoriality and Homelands

Winichakul, Thongchai. Siam Mapped: A History Of The Geo-Body Of A Nation. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1994.

Sack, Robert David. Human Territoriality: Its Theory and History. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Herb, Guntram H. "National Identity and Territory." In Nested Identities: Nationalism, Territory and Scale. Edited by Guntram H. Herb, and David H. Kaplan. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 9-30. ISBN: 9780847684670.

Knight, David B. "People Together, Yet Apart: Rethinking Territory, Sovereignty and Identities." In Reordering the World: Geopolitical Perspectives on the Twenty-First Century. 2nd ed. Edited by George J. Demko, and William B. Wood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999, pp. 209-226. ISBN: 9780813334059.

Paasi, Anssi. "Boundaries As Social Processes: Territoriality In The World Of Flows." Geopolitics 3, no. 1 (1999): 69-88.

Gottmann, Jean. The Significance of Territory. Charlottesville, NC: University Press of Virginia, 1973.

Sahlins, Peter. Boundaries: the Making of France and Spain in the Pyrenees. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991.

Nationalism

Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalis. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Hechter, Michael. Containing Nationalism. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1994.

White, George C. Nationalism and Territory, Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000.

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London, UK: Verso, 1983.

Geography

Chaliand, Gerard, and Jean-Pierre Rageau. A Strategic Atlas: Comparative Geopolitics of the World's Powers. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1992.

Collins, John M. Military Geography for Professionals and the Public. Washington, DC: National Defense University Press, 1988.

Spykman, Nicholas J. The Geography of the Peace. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace, 1944.

Resources

Gallagher, John, and Ronald Robinson. "The Imperialism of Free Trade." The Economic History Review 6, no. 1 (1953): 1-15.

Lenin, V. I. Chapter 6-7 in Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism. Moscow, Russia: Progress Publishers, 1982.

Ross, Michael. "How Does Natural Resource Wealth Influence Civil War? Evidence from 13 Case Studies." International Organization 58, no. 1 (Winter 2004): 35-67.

Michael Ross. "What Do We Know About Natural Resources and Civil War?" Journal of Peace Research 41, no. 3 (March 2004): 337-356.

Revisionism, Expansion and Territorial Conflict

Lustick, Ian. Unsettled States, Disputed Lands: Britain And Ireland, France And Algeria, Israel And The West Bank-Gaza. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993.

Posen, Barry R. "Nationalism, the Mass Army, and Military Power." International Security 18, no. 2. (Autumn 1993): 80-124.

Brown, Michael. "The Causes of Internal Conflict: An Overview." In Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict. Edited by Michael Brown, et. al. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001, pp. 3-25. ISBN: 9780262523158.

Boundary Management

Sahlins, Peter. "Natural Frontiers Revisited: France's Boundaries since the Seventeenth Century." The American Historical Review 95, no. 5. (December 1990): 1423-1451.

Tronvoll, Kjetil. "Borders of Violence-Boundaries of Identity: Demarcating the Eritrean Nation-state." Ethnic and Racial Studies 22, no. 6 (November 1999): 1037-1060.

Henrikson, Alan K. "The Power and Politics of Maps." In Reordering the World: Geopolitical Perspectives on the Twenty-First Century. 2nd ed. Edited by George J. Demko, and William B. Wood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999, pp. 94-116. ISBN: 9780813334059.

Settlement

Kacowicz, Arie M. Peaceful Territorial Change. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.

O'Leary, Brendan, Ian S. Lustick, and Thomas Callaghy, eds. Right-Sizing The State: The Politics Of Moving Borders. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Lalonde, Suzanne N. Determining Boundaries in a Conflicted World: The Role of Uti Possidetis. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003.

Weissberg, Geunter. "Maps as Evidence in International Boundary Disputes: A Reappraisal." American Journal of International Law 57 (1953): 781-803.

Prescott, Victor. "Contribution of the United Nations to Solving Boundary and Territorial Disputes, 1945-1995." Political Geography 15, nos. 3-4 (March-April 1996): 287.

The Future of Territorial Conflict

Herz, John. "The Rise and Demise of the Territorial State." World Politics 9, no. 4 (July 1957): 473-493.

Andreas, Peter. "Redrawing the Line: Borders and Security in the 21st Century." International Security 28, no. 2 (Fall 2003): 78-111.

Ratner, Steve A. "Drawing a Better Line: UTI Possidetis and the Borders of New States." The American Journal of International Law 90, no. 4 (October 1996): 590-624.

Kaysen, Carl. "Is War Obsolete? A Review Essay." International Security 14, no. 4 (Spring 1990): 42-64.

Readings by Session

Readings
LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction
2	Scope and Definitions	Hensel, Paul. "Territory: Theory and Evidence on Geography and Conflict." In What Do We Know About War? Edited by John Vasquez. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000, pp. 57-84. ISBN: 9780847699261. Vasquez, John, and Marie T. Henehan. "Territorial Disputes and the Probability of War 1816-1992." Journal of Peace Research 38, no. 2 (2001): 123-138. Huth, Paul K. Chapter 2 in Standing Your Ground. Burghardt, Andrew F. "Bases of Territorial Claims." Geographical Review 63, no. 2 (1973): 225-245. Prescott, J. R. V. Political Frontiers and Boundaries . London, UK: Routledge, 1990, pp. 58-135. ISBN: 9780044459484. Bradford, Thomas L. "International Boundaries: Lines in the Sand (and the Sea)." In Reordering the World: Geopolitical Perspectives on the Twenty-First Century. 2nd ed. Edited by George J. Demko, and William B. Wood. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999, pp. 69-93. ISBN: 9780813334059. Kimura, Masato, and David A. Welch. "Specifying 'interests': Japan's Claim to the Northern Territories and Its Implications for International Relations Theory." International Studies Quarterly 42 (1998): 213-244. [Focus on 216-232].
3	Sources I: Territoriality, Nationalism and Homelands	Goemans, Henk. "Territoriality, Territorial Attachment and Conflict." In Territoriality and Conflict in an Era of Globalization. Edited by Miles Kahler, and Barbara Walter. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming. Duffy Toft, Monica. "Indivisible Territory and Ethnic War." Working paper, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Cambridge, 2001. Anderson, James. "Nationalist Ideology and Territory." In Nationalism, Self-Determination and Political Geography. Edited by R. J. Johnston, David B. Knight, and Eleonore Kofman. London, UK: Routledge Kegan & Paul, 1988, pp. 18-40. ISBN: 9780709914808. Murphy, Alexander B. "National Claims to Territory in the Modern State System: Geographical Considerations." Geopolitics 7, no. 2 (2003): 193-214. Grosby, Steven. "Territoriality: The transcendental primordial feature of modern societiesm." Nations and Nationalism 1, no. 2 (1995): 143-162. Gellner, Ernest. "Nationalism in the Vacuum." In Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities. Edited by Alexander J. Motyl. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1995, pp. 243-54. ISBN: 9780231075138.
4	Sources II: Geography, Resources and the State	Dzurek, Daniel. "What Makes Some Boundary Disputes Important?" IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin 7, no. 4 (1999): 83-95. Herbst, Jeffrey. Chapters 1-2 in States and Power in Africa. Liberman, Peter. Does Conquest Pay? The Exploitation of Occupied Industrial Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998, pp. 3-35. ISBN: 9780691002422. Vanzo, John P. "Border Configuration and Conflict: Geographical Compactness as a Territorial Ambition of States." In A Road Map to War. Edited by Paul F. Diehl. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1998, pp. 73-112. ISBN: 9780826513298. Spykman, Nicholas J. "Geography and Foreign Policy, I." The American Political Science Review 32, no. 1 (February 1938): 28-50. [esp pp. 28-39]. ———. "Geography and Foreign Policy, II." The American Political Science Review 32, no. 2 (April 1938): 213-236. [esp pp. 231-236]. Spykman, Nicholas J. and Abbie A. Rollins. "Geographic Objectives in Foreign Policy, I." The American Political Science Review 33, no. 3 (June 1939): 391-410. [focus on 391-403]. ———. "Geographic Objectives in Foreign Policy, II." The American Political Science Review 33, no. 3 (August 1939): 591-614. Forsberg, Tuomas. "Explaining Territorial Disputes: From Power Politics to Normative Reasons." Journal of Peace Research 33, no. 4 (November 1996): 433-459.
5	Revisionism, Expansion and Territorial Conflict	Huth, Paul K. Chapter 4 in Standing Your Ground. Huth, Paul K., and Todd L. Allee. "Domestic Political Accountability and the Escalation and Settlement of International Disputes." Journal of Conflict Resolution 46, no. 6 (December 2002): 754-790. [esp. pp. 768-772]. Snyder, Jack. Chapter 2 in Myths of Empire: Domestic Politics and International Ambition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780801425325. Horowitz, Donald. "Irredentas and Secessions: Adjacent Phenomena, Neglected Connections." In Irredentism and International Politics. Edited by Naomi Chazan. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1991, pp. 9-21. ISBN: 9781555872212. Weiner, Myron. "The Macedonian Syndrome: An Historical Model of International Relations and Political Development." World Politics 23, no. 4. (July 1971): 665-683. Van Evera, Steven. "Hypotheses on Nationalism and War." International Security 18, no. 4 (Spring 1994): 5-39. Cases: Africa and Serbia Kapil, Ravi L. "On the Conflict Potential of Inherited Boundaries in Africa." World Politics 19, no. 4 (July 1966): 656-673. Gagnon, V. P., Jr. "Ethnic Nationalism and International Conflict: The Case of Serbia." International Security 19, no. 3 (Winter 1994-95): 130-166.
6	Anarchy, Power and Territorial Conflict Cases: Badme and the Gulf Islands	Huth, Paul K. Chapter 5 in Standing Your Ground. Huth, Paul K., and Todd L. Allee. "Domestic Political Accountability and the Escalation and Settlement of International Disputes." Journal of Conflict Resolution 46, no. 6 (December 2002): 754-79 [esp pp. 780-783]. Walter, Barbara. "The Intractability of Territorial Conflict." International Studies Review 5, no. 4 (December 2003): 137-153. Posen, Barry R. "The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict." Survival 35, no. 1 (1993): 27-47. Fearon, James D. "Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict." In The International Spread of Ethnic Conflict: Fear, Diffusion, and Escalation. Edited by David Lake, and Donald Rothchild. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998, pp. 107-126. ISBN: 9780691016900. Van Evera, Steve. The Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001, pp. 117-151. ISBN: 9780801482953. Schroeder, Paul W. "The 19th-Century International System: Changes in the Structure." World Politics 39, no. 1 (October 1986): 1-26. Cases: Badme and the Gulf Islands Abbink, J. "Briefing: The Eritrean-Ethiopian Border Dispute." African Affairs 97, no. 389 (October 1998): 551-565. Mobley, Richard. "Deterring Iran, 1968-71: The Royal Navy, Iran and the Disputed Persian Gulf Islands." Naval War College Review 61, no. 4 (Autumn 2003): 107-119. (PDF)^#
7	Diversion, Domestic Mobilization and Territorial Conflict Case: The Falklands	Murphy, Alex. "Historical Justifications for Territorial Claims." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 80, no. 4 (December 1990): 531-548. Levy, Jack. "Diversionary War Theory: A Critique." In Handbook of War Studies. Edited by Manus I. Midlarsky. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1989, pp. 259-288. Snyder, Jack. Chapter 2 in From Voting to Violence. New York, NY: Norton, 2000. ISBN: 9780393974812. Wiegand, Krista E. "Enduring and Escalated Territorial Disputes: Why Settlement is Not Always the Best Strategy." Paper presented at the Triangle Institute for Security Studies New Faces Fifth Annual Conference, Durham, NC, September 10, 2004. Saideman, Stephen M. "Inconsistent Irredentism? Political Competition, Ethnic Ties, and the Foreign Policies of Somalia and Serbia." Security Studies 7, no. 3 (Spring 1998): 51-93. Case: The Falklands Levy, Jack S., and Lily I. Vakili. "Diversionary Action by Authoritarian Regimes: Argentina in the Falklands / Malvinas Case." In The Internationalization of Communal Strife. Edited by M. I. Midlarsky. London, UK: Routledge, 1992, pp. 118-146. ISBN: 9780415084086. Freedman, Lawrence, and Virginia Gamba-Stonehouse. Signals of War: the Falklands Conflict of 1982. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991, pp. 3-7, 23-36, and 39-83. ISBN: 9780691023441.
8	Boundary Management and Territorial Conflict	Blake, Gerald H. "The Objectives of Land Boundary Management." IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin 6, no. 3 (1998): 55-59. Jones, Stephen B. Boundary-making: A Handbook for Statesmen, Treaty Editors, and Boundary Commissioners. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of International Law, 1945, pp 3-56. ———. "The Description of International Boundaries." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 33, no. 2 (June 1943): 99-117. Boggs, S. Whittemore. International Boundaries: A Study of Boundary Functions and Problems. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1966. ISBN: 9780404009199. Gavrilis, George. "Policing the Periphery: Security Repertoires and Border Control among Central Asian States, 1991-2003." (unpublished manuscript, University of Texas, Austin, 2004). Newman, David. "The Functional Presence of an 'Erased' Boundary: The Re-Emergence of the Green Line." In The Middle East and North Africa: World Boundaries. 2 vols. Edited by Clive H. Schoefield and Richard N. Schoefield. London, UK: Routledge, 1994, pp. 71-98. ISBN: 9780415088398.
9	Settlement I: Empirics Case: Algeria-Morroco	Huth, Paul K. Chapter 6 in Standing Your Ground. Huth, Paul K., and Todd L. Allee. "Domestic Political Accountability and the Escalation and Settlement of International Disputes." Journal of Conflict Resolution 46, no. 6 (2002): 754-790 [esp. pp. 773-780]. Hensel, Paul R. "Contentious Issues and World Politics: The Management of Territorial Claims in the Americas, 1816-1992." International Studies Quarterly 45, no. 1 (2001): 81-109. Kacowicz, Arie Marcelo. "The Problem of Peaceful Territorial Change." International Studies Quarterly 38, no. 2 (June 1994): 219-254. Chiozza, Giacomo, and Ajin Choi. "Guess Who Did What?: Political Leaders and the Management of Territorial Disputes, 1950-1990." Journal of Conflict Resolution 47, no. 3 (2003): 251-278. Hassner, Ron. "The Path to Indivisibility: Time and the Entrenchment of Territorial Disputes." Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley, 2004. Case: Algeria-Morroco Wild, Patricia. "The Organization of African Unity and the Algerian-Moroccan Border Conflict: A Study of New Machinery for Peacekeeping and for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes among African States." International Organization 20, no. 1 (Winter 1966): 18-36.
10	Settlement II: Mechanisms	Herbst, Jeffrey. Chapter 3 in States and Power in Africa. Zartman, William I. "Ripeness: The Hurting Stalemate and Beyond." In International Conflict Resolution: After the Cold War. Edited by Paul C. Stern and Daniel Druckman. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2000, pp. 225-250. ISBN: 9780309070270. Simmons, Beth A. "Capacity, Commitment, and Compliance: International Institutions and Territorial Disputes." Journal of Conflict Resolution 46, no. 6 (2003): 829-856. Fravel, Taylor. "Diversionary Peace: Explaining China's Settlement of Territorial Disputes" (unpublished manuscript, 2004). [skim empirics] Kumar, Radha. "The Troubled History of Partition." Foreign Affairs. (January-February 1997): 22-34. Mumme, Stephen P., and Carl Grundy-Warr. "Structuration Theory and the Analysis of International Territorial Disputes: Lessons from an Application to the El Chamizal Controversy." Political Research Quarterly 51, no. 4 (December 1998): 969-985.
11	The Future of Territorial Conflict	Rosecrance, Richard. "The Rise of the Virtual State: Territory Becomes Passé." Foreign Affairs 75, no.4 (July-August 1996): 45-61. Brooks, Stephen. "The Globalization of Production and the Changing Benefits of Conquest." Journal of Conflict Resolution 43, no. 5 (1999): 646-670. Fazal, Tanisha. "State Death in the International System." International Organization 58, no. 2 (April 2004): 311-344. Zacher, Mark. "The Territorial Integrity Norm." International Organization 55, no. 2 (Spring 2001): 215-50.
12	Student Presentations
13	Student Presentations (cont.)