Territorial Integrity Norm: International Boundaries and the Use of Force

Pushpita Dutta

Abstract

As a consequence of the expansion of global economic and social interactions, economic liberalization, and global regimes, scholars and observers of the international system often make comments about the diminishing significance of international borders. However, they often overlook the fact that coercive territorial revisionism has significantly decreased over the last 50 years, a phenomenon that suggests that governments now, in some respects, place a higher value on borders. The Westphalian order was established in the seventeenth century, and to the conclusion of World War II, I first trace the attitudes and practices of governments about the use of force to change borders. I next concentrate on the norm against forceful territorial revisionism's growing acceptability since 1945. The last part of my analysis focuses on the instrumental and conceptual elements that have influenced the strengthening of the norm in both developed and developing nations.