Upload
others
View
5
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Constructing Pacific States in the Settlement of Border Disputes and Territorial Claims
JAY A. COOMBS
Abstract
This paper investigates the identity of states as expressed in the context of a
territorial claim. Conventional theories of International Relations(IR), realism and
liberalism, treat the identity of states like their borders, as given and fixed.
Accordingly, territorial claims and border disputes remain the most likely cause for
states to go to war, since their settlement is zero-sum. What remains overlooked in
these accounts, however, is that the states involved in border disputes and territorial
claims are increasingly seeking non-violent means to settle their disputes. This may
be indicative of an international pacific turn for the settlement of border disputes
and territorial claims despite the predominantly realist inclinations in which they
are located in IR theories. Using a constructivist approach, I explore how
representations and state identity formation enable the ongoing search for pacific
mechanisms to settle contested territory. I present the case of the persistent Belize-
Guatemala dispute to explicate that the pacific state is central to the identity of
these states as they engage in ongoing interactions to settle this protracted territorial
claim. The implication for research is that a persistent claim does not necessarily
equate to an intractable one but new ideas need to be developed to track settlement
as a progressive process of change.
Introduction
This paper examines the changing identities of states in the context of a persistent and
adaptive territorial claim. It seeks to advance an understanding of territorial claim settlement
from the conceptual viewpoints of traditional constructivism to explain how social structures
influence the formation of state identities and interests. These social structures are also
analyzed to explain how the new identities and interests that they produce, can in turn, shape
how states choose to develop and pursue options for the settlement of territorial claims. The
theoretical aims of this paper are two-fold: first, it is to discuss the social representations that
have historically defined how the Guatemalan territorial claim to Belize has been anchored;
and second, to situate state identity formation as an analytical framework through which to
examine how these two states have formed new identities and interests in their search for a
peaceful settlement of this dispute. In addition, this paper holds that interest formation
emanates from the identities that these states form in the social structures of settlement
processes. This position deviates from traditional International Relations where both the
identity and interest of states are viewed as fixed and unchanging despite the context in which
the same states find themselves.
Traditional approaches tend to view territorial dispute settlement as zero-sum. They also
assume that the actions of states in these disputes are based solely on their power positions in
the international system. However, this paper moves away from the traditional view that
territorial claims, especially along contiguous borders, are a major source for war (Vasquez
1993) and, instead, it interrogates the influence of context in a persistent but non-militarized
territorial dispute. It asks instead, how it is that states which have been engaged in a
protracted territorial claim use representations to inform the discourse surrounding their
territorial claim and to subsequently structure their interactions. Contextually, this paper
explores the influence of representations and discourse on the mutability of state identities in
the social structure of a territorial claim. By exploring these four key aspects, I aim to offer
fresh insights into the social elements that come to bear on the identities of states as they
determine and pursue actions for a peaceful settlement of territorial disputes.
I begin with a brief review of the theoretical literature on border disputes and territorial claim.
I do so primarily to situate the assumptions of traditional IR theories of realism and neoliberal
institutionalism which both suggest that states settle these claims through the instrumental
pursuit of exogenous interest. This assumption also relies on states having fixed identities
when they interact in the international system. I offer the case for a constructivist approach to
territorial claim settlement and submit that these claims are constructed in context, and that
the identities and interests of states involved are neither fixed nor exogenous to the social
structure in which they interact. Critically, I argue that representations are key matters in
these structures because they help states to know what they are dealing with and to
discursively formulate and agree on a course of action. Subsequently, I describe my
methodological approach and list the data collection techniques used to generate the
empirical data in my case study. I then engage in a brief discussion of my main findings. I
conclude that the new identities and interests of Belize and Guatemala are unlikely to
expedite the settlement of their territorial dispute, but that they are critical to ensure an
eventual, pacific settlement of this persistent claim.
1. What traditional theories tell us about territorial claims
Territorial claims occur because states disagree about whose sovereignty reigns over a given
territory; that is, they dispute the exercise of state authority in a territorial space. Where states
agree about the location of boundary lines, borders do not pose political or security concerns.
As Vasquez (1993) asserts ‘if the territorial divisions among neighbours are not challenged
but [are] accepted as legitimate, peaceful relations can govern’ (p. 146). Where disputing
states share contiguous borders, territorial claims invariably question the location of the lines
that separate these states. The location of these lines for any contested border is critical since
the underlying reason states want their boundary lines precisely demarcated is because they
want sovereignty over territory – the exercise of sovereignty is material power and the
resultant attribute of a direct link between territorial borders and statehood (McCorquodale
2001). Huth (2000) also points out that the reason two countries might be engaged in a
border dispute is related to determining who has legitimate governing rights over a territory.
This suggests that in territorial disputes, the verities of statehood are questioned: including
the unit’s classification as a state; its ownership over territory; who its citizens are, and the
possibilities for as well as the extent of its international relations. Thus, territorial disputes are
not mere inconveniences between neighbouring states; ultimately, they challenge the
unproblematic nature of ‘fixed-state territoriality’ and mutual respect for sovereignty on
which international relations is premised (Agnew 1994, p. 57). This view of territorial
disputes - as a contestation of the constitutive elements of statehood - additionally indicates
that such claims may not only prevail on terms driven by military capabilities. Notably, Beth
Simmons explains that territorial claims ‘can be expected to instill uncertainty regarding
jurisdictional authority or future policy, even in the absence of the overt use of military force’
(2005, p. 832).
Scholars also contribute that once a territorial dispute emerges it gains an institutional
dimension. Hassner (20062007) argues that institutionalization occurs as territorial disputes
assume an established presence and function owing to the presence of social elements that are
ontologically two-dimensional having both rule-like (formal) and norm-like (inter-subjective)
characteristics. Territorial disputes emerge because norms for this type of state interaction are
ambiguous and can be challenged by a state. Furthermore, Vasquez (1993) argues that the
manner by which a state entered the international system can determine how it will treat its
borders. For Vasquez, states that enter the international system through violent, revolutionary
struggle are viewed as more threatening than those whose independence and state formation
were non-violent, evolutionary processes; these are distinctly revolutionary and evolutionary
states. Wendt (1999) similarly refers to these states as revisionist and non-revisionist states.
Revisionist states, are ‘out to grab territory, conquer each other, or change the rules of the
system’ (p. 105). Status quo states are the opposite they promote stability and ‘generally
respect each other’s territorial property rights’(Ibid). This distinction about the types of states
that are likely to be involved in a territorial claim suggests that state identity elements are
present and have a direct influence on the settlement of territorial claims. However, an
institutional characterization of territorial disputes, tend to suggest that efforts to resolve these
types of disputes are normatively strong but weak on formalization or rule-like behavior (see
Duffield 2007, p. 11).
In addition, time plays a crucial role in territorial disputes. The longer they remain
unresolved, the more likely these disputes are likely to assume bureaucratic features and
become entrenched (see Hassner 2006/2007). However, traditional approaches to border
disputes and territorial claims are ‘structural and ahistorical’ (Agnew 1994, p. 57) because
they discount the intrinsically historical and temporal elements typical of territorial disputes,
and the social conditions of state identity and interest that bear on this issue. In realist and
liberal institutionalist approaches for example, state territory is a material conception located
within a priori national interests, and pursuits of power. The fixed state territoriality -
established by the bordered units in the international system – is also the theoretical basis for
the fixed identity and interests which traditional approaches assume states maintain and
pursue during a border dispute and territorial claim.
Realism: Exogenous Interests, Self-Interested Pursuits and Capabilities
Realism is conceptually territorial argues Agnew (1994); and territory, as well as strategic
geographic position, are constitutive of realist conceptions of power and capabilities when
states calculate how to maximize their status and position. In the context of territorial
disputes, a realist position suggests that these interactions manifest the anarchical structure of
the international system where states are fearful and distrusting of each other. They then
interact in a grim, defensive environment where the potential for war is ever-present. Realism
emphasizes state survival where the object of the threat is national security; the source of
threat is other states; and the likely overcoming of that threat is inter-state warfare (see
Vaughn-Williams 2009, p. 3). A realist tradition also assumes that states pursue their interests
– territorial or otherwise – because they have significant power and material capabilities to
exert inordinate influence on the international system to secure what they want. In realism,
territorial claims and border disputes arise in conjunction with ‘power-political interests and
favourable power relations’ (Forsberg 1996, p. 435). And territorial disputes are seen as the
means to strengthen the capabilities of states, particularly through strategic increases in and
access to resource rich territory. (Mandel 1980, p. 429).
The overriding logic of the realist approach in a territorial dispute, rests on the influence of
capabilities that a state imposes on the international system. Forsberg (2003) suggests that
‘territory is primarily a strategic asset and territorial disputes are mostly resulting from power
struggles’ (p. 10). This view predicates the resolution of territorial claims and border disputes
as zero-sum. Here, realist perspectives tend to exemplify that ‘if one of the parties is to
achieve its objectives, the other one must lose’ (Stefanova 2006, p. 83). In this approach,
states are expected to view borders and territory as material interests where territorial
expansion is accommodated within realist conceptions to secure state exogenous interests of
wealth, security and power.
Two issues are worth considering. Firstly, while realism privileges capabilities in securing
interests, it discounts that states are constrained by international norms especially since
‘international law prohibits the settlement of territorial disputes between states by the threat
or use of force,’ (Crawford 2007, p. 49). Though states in realism exist in anarchy, they are
not excluded from the forces of ‘macro-level social structures [that] impinge on individual
actors’ and restrain certain actions by them (Fearon and Wendt, 2002, p. 56). Second, despite
their capabilities, states in realism value how they are perceived in international relations.
Hence, any deliberate or unilateral disregard for a norm including during territorial disputes,
can negatively influence a state’s identity (see Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998; Wendt 1999;
Simmons 2002). States are status maximizers and they worry about their international image.
Still, use of military capability is just one account by which traditional IR premise settlement
of territorial claims by states. In addition to military capabilities, states can also pursue
settlement of territorial claim through institutions.
Liberal Institutionalism: Self-Interested Pursuits, Institutions, and Cooperation
Neoliberal institutionalism is similarly committed to the instrumental rationality of states, an
international structure of anarchy and exogenous self-interests. This tradition differs from
realism because of its reliance on institutions as the medium through which states pursue their
pre-given interests. Where realism is wary of cooperation and sees this as naïve in a structure
of anarchy, neoliberal institutionalism counters that cooperation, through institutions can
reinvigorate economic dynamics between states and help them to jointly solve problems and
achieve economic gains (see Hay 2002). In the context of a territorial dispute, institutions
have a causal role because through them, states can pursue and secure their interests.
Institutions enable states to structure incentives and constraints that are consistent with the
strategic environment in which ‘instrumentally motivated, utility maximizing actors operate’
(Duffield 2007, p. 5). This causal role suggests that although procedures, rules and
regulations constrain states, they do not ultimately remove their pre-existing interests and
states are presumed to have created institutions anticipating their effects on patterns of
behaviour during interactions (Keohane and Martin, 1995). Stein (2008) similarly alludes that
in the creation of institutions, powerful states ‘structure the choices’ of other states and
institutions are epiphenomenal, reflecting the power and interests that already exist in the
international system (p. 6). A neoliberal institutionalist approach suggests that in a territorial
claim, institutions make a significant difference to settlement in conjunction with power
realities (Keohane and Martin 1995, p. 5).
However, neoliberal institutionalism does not fully accommodate that in a deep manner
‘cooperation begins to re-shape intersubjective meaning and hence re-constitutes state or elite
identities and interests according to cooperative norms’ (Sterling-Folker 2000, p. 113). In
holding self-interests as exogenous to interaction, neoliberal institutionalism ignores in the
long-term the ‘preconditioning relevance of social institutions to agents’ (Adler 1997, p. 337).
Indeed, social practice within institutions have the ‘capacity to transform identities and
interests’ (Sterling-Folker 2000, p. 113; Checkel 1997) and in long-standing territorial claims,
dense interactions tend to occur between states which increase their knowledge and
expectations of each other. This learning can influence interests and actions though liberal
institutionalism does not consider its impact to be causative; it maintains the premise that
state behaviour is rooted in power and pre-given interest (Hurd 2008). In these interactions,
neoliberal institutionalism considers states to be instrumental and utilitarian and interests in a
territorial claim are purely economic. What this suggests is that issues such as border disputes
tend to be embedded in existing institutions even though they have purposes other than
promoting an existing norm, such as sovereignty (see Finnemore and Sikkink 1998, p. 899).
Furthermore, these institutions can shape the content of a territorial claim that deflects
attention away from dispute resolution.
Traditional IR approaches view territorial disputes as consisting of exogenous interests
bolstered by the power potential of states. Here the settlement of these claims is treated as
zero-sum and their resolution is indicative of the capabilities of the powerful states.
Neoliberal institutionalism views territorial disputes as denying opportunities for cooperation
between states which institutions can overcome. Together, realism and neoliberal
institutionalism view territorial claims as a distributional issue that only the most powerful
and capable states can determine. These approaches are thus likely to view settlement of a
territorial claim as preserving the territorial status quo and maintaining the existing power of
states. Underlying this fixedness in identity and interests is viewed as a commitment to
territorial claims as unchanged by context and time. I argue that the social structure of
dispute settlement - more than the condition of anarchy, power and capabilities - impose
greater restrictions on how states pursue the resolution of territorial claims. The identities of
states in a persistent territorial claim for instance are changed by space and time ‘to
accommodate changing power relations . . . as they are constituted and reconstituted over
time’ and in social context (Somers 1994, p. 610). This is the domain of a constructivist
approach and the main thread of analysis with which I examine the persistent Guatemalan
claim to territory in Belize.
2. A Constructivist Approach to the Guatemalan claim to territory in Belize
A constructivist approach to the Guatemalan claim to territory in Belize is to present a social
structure in which state identity and interest formulation are accounted for as endogenous and
not pre-determined. This social structure is the bilateral process to seek settlement options for
the peaceful resolution of a long-standing, unresolved territorial claim and border dispute
between Belize and Guatemala. This approach challenges a priori conceptions of state
interests and identity that both realism and neoliberal institutionalism hold. Importantly,
traditional constructivism goes against traditional IR assumptions that states do not undergo
identity change and interest reformulation in territorial disputes (see Wendt 1994). However,
constructivist conceptions of state identities and interests are contingent on a discursive,
social structure and formed in context, and for a persistent territorial claim, this approach can
plausibly accommodate that ‘interests are expressed, acted upon and revised’ (see Hay 2002,
p. 21) even as the same dispute is being constructed and reconstructed. The turn to
constructivism therefore, is to examine how changes in identity along with interest
formulation and reformulation are prominent in a persistent but non-militarized territorial
claim and border dispute. Furthermore, I account for state action in a persistent territorial
dispute and show that states act upon reformulated interests by evoking representations that
are compatible with their newly formed identities and the dispute settlement context.
A contextual overview
The Guatemalan territorial claim to Belize began during British and Spanish colonial rule in
Central America. As early as 1783, under the Treaty of Versailles, Spain granted Britain
authority to harvest logwood in the Bay of Honduras, specifically, between the Hondo and
Belize Rivers (Grant 1976; Bolland 1977; Shoman 1994; Murphy 2004). A later convention
between the two countries, the Convention of 1786, extended logwood cutting rights as far as
the Sibun River but not beyond this area (Ibid.). The British settlers did not adhere to the
limits specified in the British treaty with Spain and they expanded their use and settlement of
the area (Grant 1976, p. 31; Bolland 1977, p. 10). The extended settlement area almost
doubled the original territory granted by Spain and it now reflects the expanse of present-day
Belize. This settlement eventually gained an administrative and political form despite the
British operations remaining beyond the grant of permission by Spain. The British were
administratively and politically in charge of the territory of Belize but sovereignty over the
area remained with Spain.
At the end of Spanish colonial rule in 1820, Britain continued to administer the territory in
Belize but Guatemala contested British rule in the same territory and any semblance of
borders between these two neighbouring states. After Guatemala gained independence from
Spain, its relationship with Britain over the territory in Belize became one of ‘epistemic
isolation’ (see Elcherote et al. 2011, p. 737). This required that interactions over Belize
needed to be grounded in a shared understanding of what this area now signified to these
states after the departure of Spain. As the challenger to Britain’s continued use of the
settlement, Guatemala needed to firstly, typify the situation of the territory in Belize to
determine what this settlement was; and secondly, this typification needed to be anchored to
enable subsequent interactions between the two states over the territory. This dual process1 is
to develop a representation as transference – where normally linked concepts are moved to a
context so that ‘the unusual becomes usual’ thereby gaining space in pre-existing knowledge
structures (Moscovici 2000, p. 39; Elcherote et. al 2011, p. 736). Here, the anomaly of the
territory of Belize was eventually represented as territory usurped by the British from
Guatemala. In this process, territorial usurpation became the discursively dominant category
over which Guatemala anchored its interaction with Britain over Belize. At this same time,
the territory in Belize had been typified and introduced in the emergent social structure
between Britain and Guatemala
In this paper, the Guatemalan territorial claim to Belize is not treated as a one-time event of
fact; instead, it is considered as a process constructed over a long period of discursive
interaction, even bargaining attempts between Britain Guatemala. Though these countries
eventually signed the 1859 Treaty of Boundaries where the borders of Belize with Guatemala
were officially specified, the non-implementation of its Article 7, led Guatemala to issue a
‘positive and definitive statement . . . to serve notice that [it] considered the treaty of 1859 to
be lapsed, inoperative or void’ (Bianci1959, p. 129). This formal statement of claim in 1940
occurred well over 80 years of interaction about the territory in Belize and who had
sovereignty over it. Once made, this claim framed the interactions between the two countries
to pursue settlement of a persistent territorial claim.
1 Vathakou, 2007 refers to this as part of observation systems. She notes that that ‘an observation is the unity of a distinction and a denotation.’ She explains that in an observation system an object is firstly . . . ‘distinguished from everything else . . . [ then denoted] . . . by calling or naming or identifying it’ (p. 64).
Representations: deriving meaning to anchor a claim to territory
A territorial dispute requires that material objects or ideas of focus must be classified and
then named so that they fit into a known paradigm or category. Once classified, actors or
states can then determine a course of action (Moscovici 2000, p. 42). This categorization is
aimed at confining an object, situation, event or behaviour to a set of rules for which it is
denoted. In the case of the Belize-Guatemala territorial disputes, these representations were
subject to change depending on the context and in which the states were interacting. Thus,
even as constructivism accommodates changing identities and interests, states do not act
arbitrarily in a territorial dispute; their course of action emerges because of the social
formation of representations in the discursive settlement structures. Representations emerge
because they are discursively shared in state interactions, and the identities of the state’s
structure the actions that are then deemed possible.
Socially derived representations bear on how states interpret and act upon an object. Here,
political elements (the experience, reasons and actions of the actors) combined with their
discursive actions (what they say and come to view the dispute as) have influenced how this
territorial dispute has been understood and interpreted by the disputing states. Social
representation in the ‘larger political framework makes understanding possible’ (Elcherote et.
al 2011, p. 733) and it involves the processes of naming and anchoring an unfamiliar object
or process so that it becomes known to the actors. Since this paper posits that the territorial
dispute was not a distinct occurrence but occurred through a long process of interaction, it
similarly points out that Guatemala needed to establish familiarity with the nature of British
actions in the territory to make a territorial claim over Belize. This led to early discursive
interactions with Britain over its presence in Belize represented as territory usurpation.
The territorial claim and the resultant dispute is not considered to have started over the
existence or exact location of the borders of Belize with Guatemala. It emerged, firstly, over
which state - Britain or Guatemala - had sovereign rule over this settlement after Spain’s
departure from the region. Britain’s position was that it had sovereign rule over the territory
of Belize since it benefitted from usufruct rights previously granted by Spain and it had also
maintained a steady presence in the area. Guatemala, meanwhile, argued that it had inherited
sovereignty over this territory as it was Spain’s successor in Central America. Guatemala thus
considered Belize as an inheritance. Even so, the context in which Guatemala’s declared
Belize as her legacy is important because this framing is subject to interpretation. Thus, the
discourse in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Belize-Guatemala territorial dispute
had at least three dominant representations, specifically: Guatemala’s sovereignty over the
territory; compensation for Guatemala to accept the full extent of British settlement; and
mutual acceptance of the boundary agreement between the two countries as defined by the
Treaty of 1859. These three representations are situated across periods and explain the early
identities and interests of Guatemala and Britain in relation to the settlement of the territorial
disputes in Belize. The most recent representation of the dispute puts it on legal footing for
settlement at the ICJ.
3. Methodology
The methodological plan of this paper is to explain the construction of pacific state identities
in the intractable Guatemalan territorial dispute with Belize. This explanation shows how the
social elements of state identity, interests and representations have played a role in
construction and offers that in the social structure of settlement processes these states
generate representations of the territorial dispute that promote a pacific settlement. Thus, this
paper adopts constructivist conceptions of state identities and interests to show that it is in the
social structures of settlement negotiations, not prior, that the states form options that support
a pacific resolution of their dispute. The methodological underpinning is that states do not
engage in the settlement of a territorial dispute with a package of pre-given interests; rather,
Guatemala, Britain and then Belize developed these interests because their identities have
been formed in these social contexts.
The empirical material is drawn from data collected from discursive spaces - spoken and
written text – in which representations of the dispute and the actions of the states are
articulated. This data, includes official utterances, public presentations and written
documentation about the ideas and beliefs of those closest to the social structures of this
dispute settlement. These were used to aid in an explanation of the “how possible” aspects of
the territorial dispute, specifically its long-standing existence. Semi-structured interviews
were also conducted with former and current diplomats, senior government officials and lead
negotiators who are considered as ‘targets of socialization policies and practices’ (Checkel
and Moravcsik, 2001 p. 221), and who too have engaged with others to channel ideas,
develop identities and formulate interests in this dispute. A documentary review sourced
monument resources (see Nuemann 2010) which specified courses of action by the States that
were compatible with the representation of the dispute at historical junctures. In addition, the
monument documents provided insights into the prevailing identities and interests that have
been attendant in the territorial dispute settlement efforts. I subsequently used the
combination of claim representations, state identities and interests, at specific junctures to
offer a plausible explanation of what the disputant states wanted and how they arrived at and
proposed numerous, pacific settlement options.
4. Settlement Structures, Discursive Spaces and State Identities in the unfolding of
settlement options
Guatemala and Belize have been engaged in a long process to settle their persistent territorial
dispute. Together, they have created prominent social structures in which peaceful settlement
of the dispute has been the primary focus of their interactions. These settlement structures are
distinctly interspersed in the history of the dispute and started with interactions between
Britain and Guatemala in the early colonial period; then later, in a measured manner, with
Britain, Guatemala and the colony of Belize; and finally, as interactions between Guatemala
and independent Belize. There are expectations for settlement in all these structures and these
are firmly captured in monument documents. A critical review of these documents however,
show that only three (3) of these structures produced proposals that were exclusively for the
settlement of the territorial dispute – Dallas Clarendon Treaty (1856);2 Anglo-Guatemalan
Treaty (1859); and in Belize’s post-independence era, the Special Agreement to settle the
claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) (2008). The Special Agreement of 2008 is the
only settlement option that exclusively focused on the resolution of the territorial dispute.
2 The Dallas-Clarendon Treaty was never ratified but this treaty is monumental because it is the first public articulation of the acceptance of the new boundaries of the British settlement in Belize that reflects the currentboundary today; this is the southern boundary with Guatemala being at the Sarstoon River established as of 1850.
Table 1. Proposals to exclusively settle territorial boundaries of Belize
Date State Identities Interests Representation of Dispute
Monument Documents
1856
Britain Colonial Power Boundary delimitation ofTerritory in Belize
Usurpation of territory in Belize
Dallas Clarendon Treaty
Guatemala Colonial Successor to Spain
1859
Britain Party to 1859 Treaty Boundary delineation of Belize
Cession of Territory Anglo-GuatemalanConvention - 1859Convention3Guatemala Party to 1859 Treaty
2008
Belize
Target State
Settle boundary dispute and territorial claim at ICJ or ICA
Juridical Claim 2008 Special Agreement by Belize and Guatemala to submit Territorial Claim to the ICJ4
Guatemala Challenger State
Ambiguous Identities
It is worth noting, that whilst the Treaty of 1859 was a monument agreement, that delineated the
agreed boundaries of Belize with Guatemala, this treaty also served as the genesis of a two-tiered
approach to the settlement of this territorial dispute. This two-treaty approach became ubiquitous in
all the other settlement options, and an additional five (5) prominent, structures (see table 1.2
3 The 1859 Treaty is treated as a boundary agreement between Guatemala and Britain but this treaty also included the ubiquitous two-tiered approach settlement formula inclusive of a pronounced boundary delineation AND the creation of spaces for bilateral cooperation. This is reflected in Article 7 of the same treaty.If all three agreements were to be substantially scrutinized as being exclusive attempts to settle the claim, then SA 2008 fits this definition. The Dallas Clarendon Treaty was never ratified. Still, these are all presented as substantively focused on the settlement of the claim.4 This agreement was amended in 2010 after Belize and Guatemala failed to implement the joint national referendums on October 6, 2013. They now have the option to implement their respective referendums individually.
below) produced proposals that incorporated bilateral agreements and cooperation to resolve the
dispute. The dispute was strictly territorial, yet in all political settlement structures, Guatemala and
Britain or Belize included economic cooperation agreements to conclude it. The possibilities for
cooperation emerged in the context of discursive actions to settle the territorial claim and these
were formed in process after deep and long interactions between the two countries.
The inclusion of these “soft” mechanisms has been endogenous to the settlement structures, though
they are not compulsory to settle the hard elements of a territorial dispute such as territorial border
location and the maritime designation of each state, for example. However, they have been afforded
more than an ancillary role in all settlement options.5 In the case of the Webster Proposals (1968),
neither boundary delimitations nor borders for Belize were included, and the primary focus of these
proposals was to create and institutionalize commercial trade routes for Guatemala through Belize.
They also included protocols for the defence of Belize which Guatemala would lead. Later, the
Heads of Agreement (1981) pushed settlement of the dispute as a post-independence aspiration for
Belize and Guatemala to jointly seek a political solution to the territorial dispute while sharing
maritime and natural resources. These settlement proposals enabled Belize and Guatemala to
aspire for and develop cooperative identities even as they were target and challenger states
respectively, in the territorial dispute.6
5 See James Murphy (2004, p. 47) where explains that the two-treaty package was particularly common to the period 1969- 1972 during ministerial meetings between Britain and Guatemala. This package included state recognition and cooperation. The two-treaty approach however, has been ubiquitous throughout all settlementstructures since the 1859 Boundary Treaty. 6 See this approach to settlement in the following agreements: prior to Belize’s independence, see 1968 Webster Proposals; after decolonization and toward independence see, 1980 Heads of Agreement; in post-independence era, see 2002 Facilitation Proposals, and 2005 Agreement. These proposals, have all included a two-tiered system to claim settlement that articulate distinct programs of cooperation and bilateral partnerships. In the case of Webster’s proposals, this agreement did not address any matter related to border delineation and settlement of claim.
Table 1.2: Proposals to settle Guatemalan territorial dispute with Belize
Date State Identities Interests Representation of Dispute
Monument Documents
1968
Britain Aspirant Partner State Security of territory in Belize
Harmed relations of the United Kingdom and Guatemala
Webster Proposals
Guatemala Aspirant Partner State
1980-1981
Belize Former Colonial Ruler/Emergent State
Rights and claims of each State to territory
Denial of the Rights of Guatemala over territory in Belize
Heads of Agreement
UN Resolution 35/20
Guatemala Aggrieved State
2002
Belize Target State Mutually agreed Treaties for Settlement
Politically Intractable
Agreement for Facilitation Process Between Belize and Guatemala
Guatemala Challenger State
2005-2007
Belize Cooperative State Bilateral Cooperation and Good neighborliness
Politically Intractable Agreement on a Framework for Negotiations and Confidence Building Measures
Guatemala Cooperative State
2014
Belize Partner State Bilateral Cooperation
Inimical to cooperation between the two states
13 Bilateral Agreements of Cooperation
Guatemala Partner State
Another critical factor in this territorial dispute is that the identities of the states have also
been internally produced. Both states have simultaneously assumed target and cooperative
state (Belize) and challenger and cooperative state (Guatemala) identities respectively. They
have acted on these subject positions having ‘discursively articulated and produced’
settlement options that reflect their newly formed identities (see Dunn 2003, p. 11). Over
time, these identities have enabled these states to construct a territorial dispute that has
generated multiple representations that removed any rigidities and stasis in the actions and
interactions of these states. Moreover, these representations and the narratives around them
shifted state relations over time and space (see Somers 1994). Furthermore, it is through these
same narratives that representations of the dispute have been produced. In this manner,
settlement of the territorial dispute remains a discursive space in which Belize and Guatemala
produce subject positions that enable ‘actions and practices that enact [ideas]’ that are
compatible with the identities that they have formed in process (see Dunn 2003, p. 10). Even
more, in these discursive spaces, the same representations constitute the states so that they
can only act to settle the territorial dispute in a specific way.
5. Mediating role of Discourse and Inclinations for a Peaceful Settlement
The multiple representations of this territorial dispute have allowed only certain actions to be
deemed possible for settlement. What these representations show, however, is that settlement
of the territorial dispute has not depended entirely on the location of power in any one state.
Critically, ongoing discourse and use of discursive spaces have shaped the power location and
duration in this dispute, emphasizing power is never totally centralized (see Dunn 2003, p.
11). Shifts in discursive dominance also suggest a move away from power concentration in
any one of these states such that subject positioning is replaced by subject production (Ibid.).
Indeed, the protracted nature of the unsettled dispute also explains that it is not always the
most powerful state that determines how a territorial dispute comes to an end. Rather,
Guatemala and Belize have formed state identities that have produced interests compatible
with the actions they can exercise, thus granting subject dominance at various points in the
history of this dispute. These positions are evident in the following discursive points: the
declaration by Guatemala that the Treaty of 1859 is null and void and then stating that Britain
was unaccountable for the non-implementation of Article 7 of the same treaty; the stated
rejection of the 1968 proposals by Belize (still then a colony); the acceptance of the Heads of
Agreement by Guatemala, even as Belize articulated that it was an inexecutable proposal
(1981); the rejection by Guatemala of the Facilitators proposals of 2002; the joint declaration
by both to seek settlement of the dispute at the ICJ; and the continued interests by Belize and
Guatemala to pursue cooperation and partnership agreements (2005 Agreement; 2014 - 13
Bilateral Agreements) in spite of an unsettled claim.
The territorial dispute has also produced discursive spaces in which the states have learned to
identify and seek specific options that promote a pacific settlement of the dispute. This
suggests that Belize and Guatemala have also engaged in deep learning to actively seek
settlement options that are not just expedient but reflective of the pacific identities they have
come to form. One significant point of such learning occurred during the 2002 facilitation
process when the Belize team of presenters became increasingly confident about their own
legal position and voiced then that Guatemala’s presentation was legally insufficient by
comparison.7 In the same facilitation process, Guatemala expressed that Belize, who had
always refused ‘to submit the controversy to a legal instance, now accepts that the
controversy is eminently legal and accepts, tacitly, that it be settled legally’.8 Notably, such
learning is supportive of the position by Hensel (2008, p. 127) who points out that states
which have been engaged in long but unsuccessful periods of negotiations are more likely to
seek peaceful settlements. Hensel’s argument aptly supports the maintenance of a discursive
space that both Belize and Guatemala recognize as key to settlement of their dispute in this
modern period.
Finally, the settlement structures, have resulted in the formulation of ample treaties,
agreements and proposals for the settlement of the territorial dispute. These mechanisms all
indicate that Belize and Guatemala were tacitly committed to a settlement formula that jointly
embraced ‘soft’ elements of cooperation and “hard” elements of boundary delineation,
territorial integrity and sovereignty. Such a formula also indicates that rejection by Belize or
Guatemala, of any of these soft elements renders the dispute protracted and persistent. This
brings to the fore that the Special Agreement of 2008 to settle the dispute at the ICJ is the
only proposal that can exclusively for the settlement of this claim. Yet, the juridical path to
settlement has lost its salience as the two countries are increasingly engaged in the
development and implementation of bilateral programs of cooperation.9
An expedient settlement has not been at the forefront of this territorial dispute. Instead, this
process has produced states whose identities are increasingly compatible with a long view of
7 Interview conducted with senior official and former member of the Belize negotiation team for the settlement of the Guatemalan territorial claim.8 See Guatemala’s Rejoinder at the facilitation process, May 15, 2001.9 In 2014, Belize and Guatemala signed 13 new bilateral agreements. These were considered as critical efforts to promote an environment that is conducive for the eventual settlement of the claim.
dispute settlement even though previous political attempts have proven unsuccessful. Note
that Guatemalan President, Perez-Molina suggested that there are “two axes” that now shape
and drive the bilateral relationship between Belize and Guatemala. He acknowledges that the
first axis is premised on the juridical framing of the dispute which should enable its eventual
settlement at the ICJ. But he also contends that the second axis is for the two countries to
‘strengthen and ensure a normal and solid bilateral relationship [to benefit] the development
of the people of both countries, which generates a positive political and social environment
for the process of the definitive solution of the territorial [claim].’10 Note also that, this
acknowledgement is not made to abandon the claim, since doing so can cause significant
domestic pressures in both Belize and Guatemala. At the same time, however, Perez-Molina’s
position reinforces that specific state identities can promote cooperative efforts that support a
peaceful settlement of the Guatemalan territorial dispute with Belize. And in this context, the
territorial claim loses its salience as the central ordering structure that positions how these
states interact with each other; rather, the claim has been repositioned by the states because of
the identities and interests that they have come to form in the structures for its settlement.
Conclusion
As of 2008, both Belize and Guatemala agreed that the territorial claim should be placed on a
legal footing. Having accepted this position, their respective populations will indicate through
referendums whether the claim should be settled at the International Court of Justice(ICJ). In
the meantime, the legal representation of the dispute has removed the possibility that other
extraneous matters could now be attributed to the claim; instead, it is now firmly established
on a procedural path, that could lend for its juridical settlement. To this end, the adaptability
of the dispute has been sealed. Despite the existence of the Special Agreement of 2008,
however, this agreement has not expedited the efforts of the two countries for a juridical
settlement of the claim. Yet, the social structure of dispute negotiations has enabled Belize
and Guatemala to form new identities and interests beyond the settlement of the claim.
Most recently, the two states signed agreements to develop and implement 13 programs of
cooperation. They have referred to these projects as efforts to create a pacific and conducive
environment for the eventual settlement of the claim. It is in this social structure that they can
10 See President Perez-Molina statement during the signing of the 13 Bilateral Agreements between Belize and Guatemala, 2014.
best pursue cooperative and peaceful identities, rather than through a juridical settlement of
the territorial dispute. A juridical approach is likely to distract from the nascent opportunities
that their cooperative identities can pursue and it can prove fragile for their target and
challenger state identities to sustain. Maintaining the claim still leaves room for the countries
to explore cooperation and bilateral programs.
References
Abdelal, R., Blyth, M., and Parsons, C. (eds.) (2010) Constructing the international economy.
New York: Cornell University Press.
Adler, E. (1997) ‘Seizing the middle ground: constructivism in world politics’, European
Journal of International Relations, 3(3), pp. 319-363.
Adler, E. (2002) ‘Constructivism in international relations’, in Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., and
Simmons, B. (2000) Handbook of International Relations. London: Sage, pp. 95-118.
Agnew, J. and Muscará, L. (2012) Making political geography. Plymouth, UK: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Agnew, J. (2009) Globalization and sovereignty. Plymouth, UK: Rowman and Littlefield.
Agnew, J. (2005). ‘Sovereignty regimes: territoriality and the state authority in contemporary
world politics’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(2), pp. 437-461.
Albert, M. (1999) ‘On boundaries, territory and post modernity: an international relations
perspective’, in Newman, D. (ed.) Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity. England: Frank
Cass. pp. 53-68.
Ba, A. and Hoffmann, M. J. (2003) ‘Making and remaking the world for IR 101: a resource
for teaching social constructivism in introductory classes’, International Studies Perspectives.
4(1), pp. 15–33.
Béland, D. & Cox, R. H. (2011) ‘Introduction: Ideas and Politics’, in Béland, D. & Cox, R.
H. Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bennett, A. and Elman, C. (2008) ‘Case Study Methods’, in Reus-Smit, C. and Snidal, D.
(eds.) Handbook of International Relations. pp. 499-517.
Bonacker, T. (2007) ‘Debordering by human rights: the challenge of post-territorial conflicts
in world society’, in Stetter, S. (ed.) (2007) Territorial conflicts in world society: modern
systems theory, international relations and conflict studies. London: Routledge.
Bryman, Alan. (2008) Social research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Checkel, J. T. (1999) ‘Social construction and Integration’, Journal of European Public
Policy, 6 (4), pp. 545-560.
Checkel, J. T., & Moravcsik, A. (2001) ‘A constructivist research program in EU
studies?’, European Union Politics. 2(2), pp. 219-249.
Cho Tam, W. K. and Nicley, E. (2008) ‘Geographic proximity versus institutions: evaluating
borders as real political boundaries’, American Politics Research. 36(6), pp. 803-823.
Cooper, A. and Perkins, C. (2012) ‘Borders and status-functions: an institutional approach to
the study of borders’, European Journal of Social Theory. 15(1), pp. 55-71.
Cox, R. (1986) ‘Social forces, states and world’, in Keohane, R. (ed.) Neorealism and its
Critics. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 204-254.
Davies, M., and Woodward, R. (2014) International Organizations. Cheltenham, UK:
Edward Elgar.
Diener, A. C., and Hagen, J. (2010) Borderlines and borderlands: political oddities at the edge
of the nation state. Plymouth, UK: Rowman and Littlefield.
Donnan, H., Wilson T. M. (1999) Borders: frontiers of identity, nation and state. Oxford:
Berg.
Duffield, John (2007) ‘What are International Institutions?’, The International Studies
Review, 9(1), pp. 1-22.
Eva, F. (1999) ‘International boundaries, geopolitics and the (post) modern territorial
discourse: The functional fiction’, in Newman, D. (ed.) Boundaries territory and
postmodernity. London: Frank Cass, pp. 32-52.
Farrell, T. (2002) ‘Constructivist security studies: Portrait of a research program’,
International Studies Review, pp. 49-72.
Fearon, J. and Wendt, A. (2002) ‘Rationalism v. constructivism: a skeptical view’, in
Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., and Simmons, B. (2002) Handbook of International Relations.
London: Sage, pp. 52 - 72.
Finnemore, M. (1996) National interests in international society. London: Cornell University
Press.
Finnemore, M., and Sikkink, K. (1998) ‘International norm dynamics and political
change’, International Organization, 52 (04), pp. 887-917.
Forsberg, T. (2003) ‘The ground without foundation: territory as a social construct’,
Geopolitics, 8(2), pp. 7-24.
George, A. and Bennett A. (2005) Case studies and theory development in the social
sciences. London: MIT Press.
Giddens, A. (1987) A contemporary critique of historical materialism: The nation-state and violence (Vol. 2). University of California Press.
Green, D. M. (ed.) (2002) Constructivism and comparative politics. New York: ME Sharpe.
Grant, T. (1999) The recognition of states: law and practice in debate and evolution.
Connecticut: Praeger Publishers.
Guillame, X. (2011) International relations and identity: a dialogical approach. London:
Routledge.
Hacking, I. (1999) The social construction of what? London: Harvard University Press.
Hancké, B. (2009) Intelligent research design: a guide for beginning researchers in the social
sciences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hassner, R. E. (2007) ‘The path to intractability: time and the entrenchment of territorial
disputes’, International Security, 31(3), pp. 107-138.
Hay, C. (2010) ‘Ideas, Interest and institutions in the comparative political economy of great
transformations’, Review of International Political Economy, 11(1), pp. 204-226.
Hay, C. (2002) Political analysis. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Hay, C. and Wincott, D. (1998). ‘Structure agency and historical institutionalism’, Political
Studies, 46(5), pp. 951-957.
Hobson, J. M. (2000) The state and international relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Hopf, T. (1998). ‘The promise of constructivism in international relations theory’,
International Security, 3(1), pp. 171-200.
Hurd, I. (2008) ‘Constructivism’, in Reus-Smit, C. and Snidal, D. (eds.) Handbook of
International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 298-316.
Huth, P. K. and Allee, T. L. (2002) The democratic peace and territorial conflict in the
twentieth century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jackson, R. (1990) Quasi – States: sovereignty, international relations and the third world.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kelman, H. C. (2001) The role of national identity in conflict resolutions in Social identity,
intergroup conflict reduction, (ed.) Ashmore et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Keohane, R. (1986). Neorealism and its critics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Keohane, R. O., & Martin, L. L. (1995) ‘The promise of institutionalist theory’, InternationalSecurity, 20(1), 39-51.
Kessler, O. and Helmig, J. (2007) ‘Of systems, boundaries, and regionalization’, Geopolitics,
12(4), pp. 570-585.
Klotz, A. Lynch, T. Checkel, J.T., Dunn, K. (2006) ‘Moving beyond the agent-structure
debate’, International Studies Review, 8(2), pp. 355-381.
Krasner, S. D. (1980) ‘Structural causes and regime consequences: regimes as intervening
variables’, International Organization, 36(2), pp. 185-205.
Kydd, A. H. (2008) ‘Methodological individualism and rational choice’, in Reus-Smit, C. and
Snidal, D. (eds.) Handbook of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.
425-443.
Levy, M. A., Young, O. R., & Zürn, M. (1995) ‘The study of international regimes’,
European Journal of International Relations, 1(3), pp. 267-330.
Lilleker, D. G. (2003) ‘Interviewing the political elite: navigating a potential minefield’,
Politics, 23(3), pp. 207-214.
Keohane, R. O. and Martin, L. L. (1995) ‘The promise of institutionalist theory’,
International Security, 20(1), pp. 39-51.
Kratochwil, F. (1986). Of Systems, Boundaries, and Territoriality: an inquiry into the
formation of the state System. World Politics, 39(1), 27-52.
Lapid, Y. (2001) ‘Identities, borders, orders: Nudging international relations theory in a new
direction’, in M. Albert, D. Jacobson and Y Lapid (eds.) Identities Borders Orders Rethinking
International Relations Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp.1-20.
Maguire, J. (1981-1982) ‘Decolonization of Belize: Self-Determination v. territorial
integrity’, The Virginia Journal of International Law, 22(4), 849-882.
Mandel, R. (1980) ‘Roots of the modern interstate border dispute’, The Journal of Conflict
Resolution, 24(3), pp. 427 - 454.
March, J. G. and Olsen, J. P. (1984) ‘The new institutionalism: organizational factors in
political life’, American Political Science Review, 78, pp. 734-49.
Maoz, Z. and Abdolali, N. (1989) Regime Types and International Conflict. 1816-1976,
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 33(1), 3-35.
Mearsheimer, J. (1994-1995) ‘The false promise of international institutions’, International
Security, 19(3), pp. 5 - 49.
Mearsheimer, J. (2001) The Tragedy of Great Politics. New York: W.W. Norton.
Mehta J. (2011) ‘The varied roles of ideas in politics: From ‘whether’ to ‘how’, in Béland, D.
& Cox, R. H. (eds.) Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research, Oxford: Oxford
University, pp. 23-46.
Morrow, J. D. (1988) ‘Social choice and system structure in world politics’, World Politics, 41(01), pp. 75-97.
Moscovici, S., Duveen, S. (2000) Social representations: explorations in social psychology.
Cambridge: Polity Press
Murphy, James (2004) The Guatemalan claim to Belize: Handbook on the negotiations.
Belize: Print Belize Ltd.
Murphy, Alexander (1990) ‘Historical justifications for territorial claims’, Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 80(4), pp. 531-548.
Newman, D. and Paasi A. (1998) ‘Fences and neighbors in the postmodern world: boundary
narratives in political geography’, Progress in Human Geography, 22(2), pp.186-207.
Newman, D. (2001) ‘Boundaries, borders, and barriers: changing geographic perspectives on
territorial lines’, Identities, borders, orders: Rethinking international relations theory, pp.
137-179.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Neumann, I. B. (1996) ‘Self and Other in International Relations’, European Journal of International Relations, 2(2), pp. 139 – 174.
Offe, C. (2006) Political institutions and Social Power: conceptual exploration, in Shapiro, I.,
Skowronek, S., Galvin, D. (eds.) Rethinking Political Institutions: the art of the state, New
York and London: New York University Press.
O’Leary B., Lustick, I. Callaghy, T. (2001) Right-sizing the State. The Politics of Moving
Borders, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Onuf, N. (1989) World of Our Making: rules and rule in social theory and international
relations, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.
Orend, B. (2000) Michael Walzer on war and Justice. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
Paasi, A. (1999) ‘Boundaries as social processes: Territoriality in the world of flows’, in
Newman, D. (ed.) Boundaries, territory and postmodernity. London: Frank Cass, pp. 69-88.
Paasi, A. (1996). ‘Boundaries as Social Processes: territoriality in the world of flows in
Newman, D. (ed.) Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity, England Frank Cass.
Parsons, C. (2007). How to Map Arguments in Political Science. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Pisani, M. J. (2007) From closed to open regionalism in Central America: a preliminary
assessment of the proposed Belize Guatemala free trade agreement in Korres, G. (ed.)
Regionalization Growth and Economic Integration. New York: Physica-Verlag.
Pierson, P. (2004) Politics in Time: history institutions and social analysis. Oxford: Princeton
University Press.
Ringmar, E. (1996) Identity, interest and action: a cultural explanation of Sweden’s
intervention in the Thirty Years War: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruggie, J. G. (1993). Territoriality and beyond: problematizing modernity in international relations. International organization, 47(01), pp. 139-174.
Ruggie, J. G. (1998) Constructing the world polity: essays on international
institutionalization. London: Routledge.
Sassen, Saskia (2013) ‘When territory deborders territoriality’, Territory, Politics and
Governance, 1(1), pp. 21-45.
Schmidt, V. A (2010) ‘Reconciling ideas and institutions through discursive institutionalism’,
in Béland, D. & Cox, R. H. (eds.) Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research, Oxford:
Oxford University, pp. 47-64.
Searle, J.R. (1995). The Construction of Social Reality. London: Penguin.
Shapiro, I., Skowronek, S., Galvin, D. (2006). Rethinking Political Institutions: the art of the
state. New York and London: New York University Press.
Shoman, A. (2010) Belize’s Independence and Decolonization in Latin America: Guatemala
Britain and the UN. United States: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sil, R. and Katzenstein, P. (2010) Analytic Eclecticism in the Study of World Politics:
Reconfiguring Problems and Mechanisms across Research Traditions. Perspective on
Politics, 8(2), 411-431.
Simmons, B. (2002) Capacity Commitment and Compliance: International Institutions and
Territorial Disputes, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 46(6), 829-856.
Simmons, B. A., & Martin, L. L. (2013) ‘International organizations and institutions’, in
Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., and Simmons, B. (eds.) Handbook of international relations,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.326-351.
Snidal, D. (2002) ‘Rational choice and international relations’, in Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T.,
and Simmons, B. (2000) Handbook of International Relations. London: Sage, pp. 73-94.
Somers, M. R. (1994) ‘The narrative constitution of identity: a relational and network
approach’, Theory and Society, 3(1), 605-649.
Starr, H. and Most, B. (1983) Contagion and Border Effects on Contemporary African
Conflict. Comparative Political Studies, 16(1), 92-117.
Stefanova, B. (2006) Regional integration as a system of conflict resolution: The European
experience’, World Affairs, 169(2), pp. 81-93.
Stein, A. (2008) ‘Neoliberal Institutionalism’, in Reus-Smit, C. and Snidal, D. (eds.)
Handbook of International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 201-221.
Steinmo, S., Thelen, K., Longstreth, F. (eds.) (1992) Structuring Politics: historical
institutionalism in comparative analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sterling‐Folker, J. (2000) ‘Competing paradigms or birds of a feather? Constructivism and
neoliberal institutionalism compared’, International Studies Quarterly, 44(1), pp. 97-119.
Sterling-Folker, J. A. (ed.) (2006) Making sense of international relations theory. Boulder,
Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Stetter, S. (ed.) (2007) Territorial conflicts in world society: modern systems theory,
international relations and conflict studies. London: Routledge.
Storey, D. (2001) Territory: the claiming of space. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Oisín, T. (2007) ‘Process tracing and elite interviewing: A case for non-probability sampling’,
Political Science & Politics, 40 (4), pp. 765-772.
Toal, G. (1999). ‘De-Territorialised Threats and Global Dangers: geopolitics and risk
society’, in Newman, D. (ed.) Boundaries, Territory and Postmodernity, Frank Cass:
England.
Vasquez, J. (1993) The war puzzle. Cambridge: University Press
Vathakou, E. (2007) ‘The autopoiesis of conflict transformation: an example of a ‘Butterfly
Effect’ in Greek-Turkish relations’, in Stetter, S. (ed.) (2007) Territorial conflicts in world
society: modern systems theory, international relations and conflict studies. London:
Routledge.
Vidmar, J. (2013) Democratic Statehood in international law. Oxford and Portland Oregon:
Hart.
Waltz, K. (1979. Theory of international politics. Massachusetts: McGraw Hill.
Waltz K. (1986) ‘Reflections on theory of international Politics: a response to my critics’, in
Keohane, R. Neorealism and its Critics. New York: Columbia University Press.
Watson, A 2002, The Limits of Independence (1), Routledge, London, US. Available from:
ProQuest ebrary. [15 June 2016].
Weldes, J. (1996) ‘Constructing National Interest’, European Journal of International
Relations, 2(3), pp. 275-318.
Wendt, A. (1992) Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power
politics. International organization, 46(02), 391-425.
Wendt, A. (1994). Collective Identity Formation and the International State. The American
Political Science Review, 88(2), 384-396.
Wendt, A. (1999). Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Williams, J. (2003). Territorial Borders, International Ethics and Geography: ‘Do Good
Fences Still Make Good Neighbours?’, Geopolitics 8 (2), 25-46.
Wilson, T. M., & Donnan, H. (Eds.). (1998). Border Identities: nation and state at
international frontiers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press