Maps of the West Bank in Jordanian Postage Stamps, 1952–1985

This article examines Jordanian postage stamp depiction of the West Bank as part of the Hashemite Kingdom from 1952 to 1985. The majority of maps of the West Bank are featured as part of Jordan, both during Jordanian rule of the West Bank (1948–1967) and after Israel conquered the land during the 1967 war. Sometimes the West Bank is delineated from Jordan to suggest a territorial dispute with Israel, while other times, the West Bank is shown as part of Palestine. The ambiguous representations of the West Bank as Jordanian territory, disputed territory, and Palestinian territory reinforce Hashemite sovereignty claims to the West Bank while also supporting Palestinian rights and acknowledging Jordanian rule of the West Bank was conditional upon settlement of the Palestinian issue. Finally, this analysis seeks to explain why stamps stopped showing the West Bank as part of Jordan in 1985, three years before the kingdom formally severed all legal and administrative ties to the land.

Fatal blow: Urbicidal geographies, pax colonial and black sovereignty in the Colombian city

This article gives ethnographic form to Fanon’s warning that in the colonial world, “zombies are more terrifying than settlers,” by analyzing how racial mythologies produce spatial classifications of Black urban communities as unruly places and how Black individuals challenge their wretched condition by embracing a “program of complete disorder.” To do so, the article analyzes the short(ened) life of Paco, a young Black man under house arrest whose retaliatory violence against, and territorial dispute with, the police is an entry point for exploring resistance to urban coloniality in Santiago de Cali/Colombia. The article engages with the field of Black geography to propose a Fanonian reading of contemporary cityscapes as colonial spaces. Such colonial spatialities, it is argued, are not defined merely by subjugation to death but also, as Paco’s refusal to be killed may reveal, by an insurgent spatial praxis that might reposition the Black subject in relation to the city and the regime of Law.

Understanding the timing of Chinese border incursions into India

Since the 1960s China and India have engaged in a dispute about the demarcation of their shared border. This territorial dispute led to a brief war in 1962, and recurring flare-ups over the following decades, including during the summer of 2020. The potential for further escalation of this dispute poses significant risks to Indian and Chinese civilians, US foreign policy objectives, and the stability of the international economic system. Despite the importance of this dispute, there have been relatively few attempts to understand the correlates of Chinese incursions. This paper addresses this important question by leveraging past work on the study of conflicts between states to derive a set of testable explanations about the impact of China–India relations, internal political affairs, international political issues, and domestic economic factors on the likelihood of incursions. The study uses 15 years of original data on monthly Chinese incursions into India along with a monthly dataset containing 18 independent variables, to develop a detailed statistical understanding of the factors that trigger Chinese incursions across the Indian border with a lead time between 1 and 6 months. The quantitative study finds that Chinese incursions are more likely when Chinese leadership is early in their tenure, but more likely when Indian leadership is in the later stages of their tenure. The results also show that closer cooperation between India and the US may trigger additional Chinese incursions into India. Finally, lower consumer confidence in the Chinese economy is consistently related to an increased likelihood of incursions. These findings have implications for the maintenance of peace and India’s national security policies. Periods of Chinese uncertainty, particularly when their economy exhibits weakness and when Chinese leaders are in the early stages of their tenure are more likely to experience incursions. Further, the strengthening of the US–Indian alliance, as well as increased conflict between India and Pakistan, create the potential for an elevated risk of incursions. During these periods India should likely be on higher alert, while India and Indian allies should signal the importance of diplomatic solutions for the dispute.

The hybrid court – an appropriate solution for the protection of human rights within the territory of the Self-proclaimed Dniester Republic

Although the practice of hybrid courts was aimed at repressing international crimes, it also represents a reliable and effective model for examining cases on violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms within the territories with contested jurisdiction, not in the light of territorial dispute settlement but from the perspective of remediation, prevention and infringements ending rational within territories where there is no fair, constitutional and independent justice system. Such courts would represent the optimal solution for assessing any cases on human rights violations on the territory of self-proclaimed Dniester Republic in line with the lawfulness exercise, until the final settlement of the Transdniestrian conflict. The jurisdiction could include a panel composed of 7 judges, of which 3 would be appointed by the constitutional authorities of the Republic of Moldova, pursuant to different formulas, 2 – appointed by the UN and 2 – appointed by the OSCE. At least 3 judges shall be preferably from among the former judges of an international jurisdiction (e.g. the International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights etc.). The European Convention on Human Rights could serve as the applicable substantive law, and the legislation of the Republic of Moldova – as the procedural law. The impact of creating such a court would be pivotal for the establishment of a human rights „coverage area” on the left bank of the Dniester. It is recommended however, for the proper functioning of this jurisdiction, especially endowed with confidence in the act of justice under the guarantee of international judges, that the origin of this jurisdiction shall be an external one, preferably a UN based one.

“Kuril Dispute”: Political and Legal Models of Solution in the Aspect of Constitutional Transformation

Introduction. The fate of the Southern Kuril Islands remains a stumbling block to the conclusion of a peace treaty between Russia and Japan, as well as the further development of trade, economic, environmental, political, diplomatic, and other relations between the two states. At the same time, the constitutional changes that took place in Russia in 2020 and the need to ensure national interests dictate the need to find alternative ways to solve the problem, taking into account the political and legal experience of resolving similar territorial disputes. Methods and materials. The methodological basis of the research includes dialectical, general logical, theoretical (abstraction, historical method), empirical (description, comparison, experiment) methods, as well as a special formal legal and applied interdisciplinary method of event analysis. Analysis. Based on the study of domestic and foreign scientific researches devoted to constitutional transformations in Russia and Japan, problems of Russian-Japanese relations over the Southern Kuril Islands dispute, and political and legal models of resolving territorial disputes, legislation and international documents, potential models of resolving the “Kuril dispute” are analyzed and compared, and an attempt is made to find an acceptable solution of the territorial dispute between Russia and Japan over the ownership of the Southern Kurils. Result. The authors conclude that each of the considered political and legal models of resolving territorial disputes (“Aland”, “Hong Kong”, “Amur”, “Peace Park model” and other variants) has its own specifics due to the individual characteristics of a particular territorial dispute, so it cannot be applied to the resolution of the models of resolving the “Kuril dispute” in its pure form.

Diversionary Politics and Territorial Disputes: Evidence from Turkish Airspace Incursions

Diversionary theories of interstate conflict suggest that domestic problems push leaders to initiate hostilities against foreign foes in order to garner support. However, the empirical support for this proposition is mixed as critics point out that leaders should not start conflicts that can be extremely costly for them, potentially even removing them from office. We propose that while leaders may not initiate new conflicts, they do tap into existing territorial disputes when facing internal disapproval. That is, they engage in material acts of foreign policy showing domestic audiences that they defend or emphasize their country's claim while being unlikely to result in full-scale armed confrontations. To test this claim, we use monthly data, covering the period 2013–2020, on leader approval and incursions into contested airspace from Turkey's long-standing territorial dispute with Greece. Results from time-series models offer support for our expectation.

Nepo-India Territorial Disputes Transformation by Dialogue Means

Nepo is a prefix appellation of Nepal. This study is a review that connects with disputed Kalapani area. And it interacts with the concerned actors/institutions motivating for change professed through fundamental transformation by dialogical means. Its objectives are three-fold: (i) to examine the Nepo-India territorial dispute; (ii) to analyse the voices of all Tracks; and (iii) to find-out ways of dispute transformation through Dialogue Track. The lessons-learned centric approach inspired the author to undertake this study. The paper is prepared based on archival research with author’s over 100 international publications tracking snow-ball techniques. Dialogue shares possible transformative ways for negotiation. Any dispute leaves the most significant impact – victimizes the people at the local levels (Dialogue Track 3) the most. Grassroots people are honestly guided by ‘social service is the best philanthropic work of life’ and voluntarily participate in resolving the local dispute. Dialogue Track 2 is an unarmed peacekeeping or watchdog body which belongs to the leaders of professionals at the provincial levels. It connects between Track 1 and Track 3 dimensions. Dialogue Track 1 is the ambitious, complex and supreme authoritative body to hold official dialogue and transform the dispute signing negotiation. The dialogue transforms 3ds (difference, denial and divergence) of dispute in the new form ‘just’ by peaceful means. India adopts 4ds (delay, deny, dilute and deceive) strategies for dialogue in the lack of required testimonies. World’s largest democratic country India isolates itself in this region as it has territorial disputes with all the adjoining neighbours in the absence of sincere dialogue. Therefore, it is high time India sorted out the fault lines in its democracy.

Guyana-Venezuela tensions over Essequibo will escalate

Significance This marks a further escalation of tensions between the two countries, which have a long-standing territorial dispute. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to begin hearings on the dispute, ensuring that tensions will remain elevated into the medium term. Impacts The dispute could play well domestically for Maduro given strong Venezuelan nationalist sentiments regarding Essequibo. Guyana will continue to receive oil revenues from the disputed territory during the ICJ process, boosting its economic prospects. CARICOM’s declared support for member state Guyana will further weaken Venezuelan influence in the Caribbean.