Explaining Territorial Disputes: From Power Politics to Normative Reasons

Territorial disputes are traditionally regarded as the most common sources of war. Yet, research focusing on the question why territorial disputes arise has been rare, and has usually relied on power-political assumptions. Typically, the emergence of territorial disputes has been explained in terms of rational strategic and economic interests and changing power relations. This article argues that these modes of explanation are severely misleading, since many of today's territorial disputes can be better explained from a normative perspective, by referring to subjective conceptions of justice and international norms. As an emotive issue, territory is loaded with a number of emotional and normative elements which today are likely to surpass its `rational' economic or strategic value. Therefore attempts to resolve territorial disputes which do not take into account the normative dimension underlying such disputes are likely to fail.