Overview
Boundaries separate states territories.
Subsoil resources -> dispute.
- European coal reserves from Belgium to Netherlands to Germany -> fighting
- 1950s: Germany vs Netherland b/c natural
- Iraq vs Kuwait b/c oil in Rumaylah reserve -> Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990
- international crisis
Boundaries in airspace/space -> more potential disputes.
Establishing Boundaries
- Define boundaries through treaty-like document
- Delimit boundary on map
- Demarcate along boundary using physical barrier
- Administrate boundary
Types of Boundaries
geometric boundary: boundaries drawn with grid system like latitude/longitude/township/range
- US and Canada use latitude west of Great Lakes
- Berlin Conference was random for Africa
physical-political / natural-political boundary: boundaries made from physical geography
- Rio Grande between US and Mexico
- Pyrenees between Spain and France
- Lakes in Africa
- unstable
- Argentina and Chile
Boundary Disputes
All boundaries have complex beginnings (old, imprecise, ancient, set by formerly dominant countries, changed with geography).
Definitional Boundary Disputes
- Focus on legal language of boundary agreement
- Ex: change in river tide level -> dispute over resources in river, land uncovered by river
- Must redefine definition -> suit both parties
Locational Boundary Disputes
- Focus on delimitation/demarcation of boundary
- different interpretations of vague boundary treaty
- Ex: colonial powers in Africa/Asdia didn’t define international administrative boundaries -> arguments when they became independent states
- Sometimes there is no defintion of boundary
- Saudi Arabia vs Yemen for oil
Operational Boundary Disputes
- involve neighbors who differ eover the way their border should funciton
- examples
- one state wants migration, other doesn’t
- smuggling prevention efforts are uncoordinated/contradictory
- nomads move across border with livestock
Allocational Boundary Disputes
- caused by resources
- examples