Administrative Legacy and the River Mura Border Dispute between Slovenia and Croatia

Abstract

Abstract Set at the intersection between political history and environmental history, this article shows the significance of administrative legacy and natural dynamics of rivers in the landscape for creating (and solving) border disputes. In 2006, Slovenia and Croatia engaged in such a dispute regarding the exact course of the border near the River Mura in the vicinity of the villages of Hotiza (Slovenia) and Sv. Martin na Muri (Croatia). After giving an overview of the Slovenian-Croatian border disputes between 1992 and 2019, the author analyses the border dispute around the River Mura. He then shows how the history of the river’s regulations, of the Habsburg and Yugoslav land survey activities, as well as of the previous border disputes on the river are entangled in the current dispute.