Delimitation and Demarcation: Analysing the Legacy of Stephen B. Jones's Boundary-Making

Abstract

In 1945 Stephen B Jones, an American political geographer, published Boundary-Making: A Handbook for Statesmen, Treaty Editors and Boundary Commissioners in which he set out the practicalities of boundary delimitation, demarcation and maintenance. The significance of this volume to boundary scholars and practitioners cannot be overstated. Jones's book, outlining guidelines for good practice in boundary-making, continues to be consulted as a unique work of its kind. However, now over sixty years since publication, its age is starting to tell. The recent decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) reveals how some of the core concepts of Boundary-Making are being re-interpreted and some of the practices espoused by Jones may be in need of updating to encompass the changes in boundary-making during the last half century. Framing the discourse around the EEBC's notion of boundary ‘demarcation’, we examine the context in which Jones wrote his book, consider why it has become such an important work, and suggest how it can continue to be relevant for twenty-first-century boundary practitioners.