1990/12/01 by Alexander B. Murphy · 151 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Economic geography #Environmental ethics #European Political History Analysis #Geography #Historical Legal Studies and Society #Philosophy #Political science
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1990.tb00316.x
published in Annals of the Association of American Geographers 80(4), 531-548 (American Association of Geographers)
openalex publication_date 1990/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The justifications that states offer in support of their actions play an important role in shaping territorial conflicts between states. During the past forty years, territorial claims against neighboring states have almost always been justified as attempts to recover land that had been “wrongfully'’taken away. This article charts the rise of this kind of historical argument, beginning with the Peace of Westphalia. It is an argument that has its roots in Western understanding of property rights. Historical arguments have come into ascendancy as claims based strictly on ethnic, strategic, and economic considerations have become less acceptable. Of course, arguments for the restitution of territory frequently hide other underlying motives. But language itself shapes the formulation and pursuit of territorial objectives. Examples of territorial conflicts between Ecuador and Peru, India and Pakistan, and Togo and Ghana reveal that the discourse of territorial conflict justification can influence (1) the extent of territory in dispute, (2) the ways in which armed struggles over territory evolve, (3) the places where interstate territorial conflict is likely to develop, and (4) the solutions to ongoing territorial wars that are contemplated. Thus, disputed territory cannot be understood simply as a collection of objective attributes. It must be seen instead as the outgrowth of a dynamic relationship existing between an area and the social processes and ideologies that give it meaning.