What they fight for: Specific territorial issues in militarized interstate disputes, 1816–2001

Abstract

This paper provides a multifaceted classification of the primary issue for each state involved in territorial disputes between 1816 and 2001. I differentiate principally between cases in which ownership of the territory is disputed and cases over which status quo distributions of territory are acknowledged. I also consider the location of disputed territories—homeland vs other territories—and the types of actions in the dispute. This classification scheme produces categories such as (1) disputed ownership, (2) general border issues, (3) opportunity-based conflict, (4) state-system changes, (5) border violations, and (6) fishing rights and the hot pursuit of rebels. My analyses find that there is significant variation across types of territorial disputes, and serious conflicts are overwhelmingly concentrated in fights over bordering territories with disputed ownership claims. I suggest several ways in which this classification scheme can be used in future research.