This book presents a collection of new and updated essays on what has come to be known as the territorial explanation of war.
The book argues that a key both to peace and to war lies in understanding the role territory plays as a source of conflict and inter-group violence. Of all the issues that spark conflict, territorial disputes have the highest probability of escalating to war. War, however, is hardly inevitable; much depends on how territorial issues are handled. More importantly, settling territorial disputes and establishing mutually recognized boundaries can produce long periods of peace between neighbors, even if other salient issues arise. While territory is not the only cause of war and wars arise from other issues, territory is one of the main causes of war, and learning how to manage it, can, in principle, eliminate an entire class of wars.
This book will be of great interest to all students of war and conflict studies, causes of war and peace, international security and strategic studies.
John A. Vasquez is Thomas B. Mackie Scholar in International Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is author of The Steps to War (2008) (with Paul Senese) and The War Puzzle Revisited (2009). He has been president of the Peace Science Society (International) and the International Studies Association.
Marie T. Henehan is Director of Internships and Lecturer, Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is author of Foreign Policy and Congress: An International Relations Perspective and co-editor of The Scientific Study of Peace and War.
Introduction
I. The Issue of Territory
1. "Why do Neighbors Fight Proximity, Interactions, or Territoriality?" Journal of Peace Research 32 (August 1995): 277 93
2. "Distinguishing Rivals That Go To War from Those That Do Not: A Quantitative Comparative Case Study of the Two Paths to War" International Studies Quarterly 40 (December, 1996): 531 558
3. "Territorial Issues and the Probability of War, 1816-1992" (with Marie T. Henehan) Journal of Peace Research 38 (March 2001): 123-138
4. "Mapping the Probability of War and Analyzing the Possibility of Peace: The Role of Territorial Issues" Presidential Address to the Peace Science Society Conflict Management and Peace Science, 18 (No. 2, 2001): 145-174
II. Territory and War
5. Territorial Disputes and War in Three Historical Eras: 1816-1945, 1946-
1989, 1990-2001 (with Marie Henehan)
6. The Initiation of Territorial Disputes (Marie Henehan)
7. What do we know about Territorial Disputes and War?
8. Why Interstate Territorial Disputes Are War Prone (with Marie Henehan)
III. Territory and Peace
9. The Changing Probability of War, 1816-1992: Identifying Peaceful Eras (with Marie T. Henehan) in Raimo Vayrynen (ed.) The Waning of Major War (London: Frank Cass, 2006)
10. Globalization, Territoriality, and Interstate War (with Marie T. Henehan)
IV. Conclusion
11. Territory: A Key to War and Peace
Biography
John A. Vasquez is Thomas B. Mackie Scholar in International Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is author of The Steps to War (2008) (with Paul Senese) and The War Puzzle Revisited (2009). He has been president of the Peace Science Society (International) and the International Studies Association.
Marie T. Henehan is Director of Internships and Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is author of Foreign Policy and Congress: An International Relations Perspective and co-editor of The Scientific Study of Peace and War.
