* I greatly appreciate useful suggestions and corrections from Marcelo Kohen and Bruno Simraa.

1 Georges, Scelle, Obsession du territoire, in Symbolae Verzijl 347 (1958).Google Scholar

2 See Paul, R. Hensel, Charting a Course to Conflict: Territorial Issues and Interstate Conflict 1816—1992, in A Road Map to War: Territorial Dimensions of International Conflict 115, 130–32 (Paul, F. Diehl ed., 1999)Google Scholar (data showing that territorial disputes are more likely to escalate into military conflicts than other disputes); see generally Gary, Goertz & Paul, F. Diehl, Territorial Changes and International Conflict (1992).Google Scholar

3 See Nguyen Quoc, Dinh, Droit International Public §300, at 467 (Patrick, Daillier & Alain, Pellet eds., 7th ed. 2002).Google Scholar

4 Daniel, Bardonnet, Les frontierés terrestres et la relativité de leur tracé (Problèmes juridiques cboisis), 153 Recueil Des Cours 9, 22 (1976 V)Google Scholar (“Les frontières terrestres . . . résultent, le plus souvent, de dispositions conventionelles négociées . . . sur la base de considerations de nature avant tout politique.”).

5 The best recent doctrinal review remains Marcelo, G. Kohen, Possession Contestée Et Souverainete Territoriale (1997)Google Scholar; the best earlier classic is Robert, Y. Jennings, The Acquisition of Territory in International Law (1963).Google Scholar

6 See S. Whittemore, Boggs, International Boundaries: A Study of Boundary Functions and Problems 25 (1940)Google Scholar; Paul De La, Pradelle, La Frontière: Etude De Droit International 172–75 (1928).Google Scholar

7 Marcelo, G. Kohen, Is the Notion of Territorial Sovereignty Obsolete? in Borderlands Under Stress 35, 44 (Martin, Pratt & Janet Allison, Brown eds., 2000)Google Scholar; see also Stanley, Waterman, States of Segregation, in The Razor’s Edge: International Boundaries and Political Geography 57, 70 (Clive, Schofield et al. eds., 2002)Google Scholar (stating that “despite the destabilisation of notions of bounded categories and groups, . . . boundaries are very much alive and well, both in the legal divisions separating nation-states and in the internal social and spatial patterns of separation and segregation”).

8 Saadia, Touval, The Boundary Politics of Independent Africa 24–45 (1972).Google Scholar

9 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, May 23, 1969, Art. 62(2)(a), 1155 UNTS 331.

10 Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties, Aug. 23, 1978, Art. 11, 1946 UNTS 3.

11 Island of Palmas (Neth./U.S.), 2 Rep. Int’lArb. Awards 829,840 (1928); wd/ro Frontier Dispute (Burk. Faso/Mali), 1986 ICJ REP.554, 586-87, para. 63 (Dec. 22) (on relationship between title and colonial acts of administration).

12 W. Michael, Reisman, Case Report: The Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the Republic of Yemen, in 93 AJIL 668, 679 (1999)Google Scholar; see also Surya, P. Sharma, Territorial Acquisition, Disputes and International Law 338 (1997).Google Scholar

13 Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, GA Res. 2625 (XXV), annex, princ. 1, UN GAOR, 25th Sess., Supp. No. 28, at 121, 122, UN Doc. A/8028 (1970) [hereinafter Friendly Relations Declaration].

14 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra note 9, Art. 52.

15 Mark, W. Zacher, The Territorial Integrity Norm: International Boundaries and the Use of Force, 55 Int’l Org. 215, 223–34 (2001).Google Scholar

16 See Antonio, Cassese, Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal 120 (1995).Google Scholar

17 Steven, R. Ratner, Drawing a Better Line:Uti Possidetisand the Borders of New States, 90 AJIL 590, 598–601 (1996).Google Scholar

18 Report of the International Committee of Jurists Entrusted by the Council of the League of Nations with the Task of Giving an Advisory Opinion upon the Legal Aspects of the Aaland Islands Question, League of Nations O.J., Spec. Supp. No. 3, at 5–6 (1920); Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217, 296.

19 See, e.g., Quincy, Wright, The Goa Incident,56 AJIL 617, 631 (1962)Google Scholar (predicting UN acquiescence in Indian takeover and perfunctorily equating it to acceptance of Israel’s possession of land beyond 1947 partition lines, as UN recognition of “a situation which it regards as, on the whole, beneficial, even if this situation originated in illegality”).

20 Jennings, supra note 5, at 67. For a careful recent treatment of the tensions between effectiveness and legality, see Enrico, Milano, Unlawful Territorial Situations in International Law (2006).Google Scholar

21 See, e.g., Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indon./Malay.), 2002 ICJ REP. 625 (Dec. 17).

22 Charles, G. Fenwick, Remarks, in The Distinction Between Legal and Political Questions, 18 ASIL Proc. 44, 44 (1924)Google Scholar; see also Robert Yorke, Hedges, justiciable Disputes, 22 AJIL 560, 564 (1928)Google Scholar (same view).

23 Edwin, M. Borchard, Remarks, in The Distinction Between Legal and Political Questions , supra note 22, at 50, 53.Google Scholar

24 Brierly, J. L., The judicial Settlement of International Disputes, 4 J. Brit. Inst. Int’l Aff. 227, 236, 240 (1925).Google Scholar

25 Borchard, supra note 23, at 54.

26 Brierly, supra note 24, at 240.

27 Miroslas, Gonsiorowski, Political Arbitration Under the General Act for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, 27 AJIL 469, 472–73 (1933)Google Scholar; see also Norman, Hill, Claims to Territory in International Law and relations 197–208 (1945).Google Scholar

28 Todd, L. Allee & Paul, K. Huth, Legitimizing Dispute Settlement: International Legal Rulings as Domestic Political Cover, 100 am. Pol. Sci. Rev. 219, 220–21, 229 (2006)Google Scholar (of 1490 cases of territorial negotiations involving 348 disputes from 1919 to 1995, 30 resulted in pursuit of judicial or arbitral solution).

29 Georg, Schwarzenberger, Title to Territory: Response to a Challenge, 51 AJIL 308, 308 (1957).Google Scholar

30 By way of a crude calculation, roughly one-third of the contentious cases decided by the ICJ have involved land or maritime boundary disputes. When I took a public tour of the Peace Palace in the early 1990s, the young guide, upon our approach to the ICJ courtroom, informed us that the Court mostly decided border disputes.

31 Woolsey, L. H., Boundary Disputes in Latin-America, 25 AJIL 324 (1931).CrossRefGoogle Scholar Woolsey wrote case notes on numerous such arbitrations for the Journal.

32 Jennings, R. Y., General Course on Principles of International Law, 121 Recueil Des Cours 323, 430 (1967 II).Google Scholar For one insider’s perspective, see Jeremy, Carver, The Practicalities of Boundary Dispute Resolution, in International Boundaries and Boundary Conflict Resolution 119 (Carl, Grundy-Warr ed., 1990).Google Scholar

33 Allee & Huth, supra note 28, at 229–32.

34 See, e.g., Conference on Yugoslavia, Arbitration Commission, Opinion No. 3, para. 2, 31 ILM 1499, 1500 (1992) (citing Frontier Dispute case) [hereinafter Opinion No. 3].

35 Quincy, Wright, The Middle East Problem, 64 AJIL 270, 278 (1970).Google Scholar

36 Boundary Dispute Concerning the Taba Area (Egypt-Isr. Arb. Trib. 1988), 27 ILM 1421 (1988).

37 See, e.g., 1 Oppenheim’s International Law 679 (Robert, Jennings & Arthur, Watts eds., 9th ed. 1992).Google Scholar

38 See, e.g., Ian, Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law 127 (6th ed. 2003)Google Scholar (tribunal “will not apply the orthodox analysis to describe its process of decision”).

39 Charles De, Visscher, Theory and Reality in Public International Law 209 (rev. ed. 1968)Google Scholar; see also Award of the Arbitral Tribunal in the First Stage of Proceedings (Eritrea/Yemen), para. 451 (1998), available at <http://pca-cpa.org (endorsing this approach). ButseeLand and Maritime Boundary Between Cameroon and Nigeria (Cameroon v. Nig.: Eq. Guinea Intervening), Merits, 2002 Icj Rep. 303, 352, para. 65 (Oct. 10) (rejecting historical consolidation in favor of “established modes of acquisition”) [hereinafter Cameroon v. Nigeria].

40 Schwarzenberger, supra note 29, at 312–23.

41 Munkman, A. L. W., Adjudication and Adjustment—International Judicial Decision and the Settlement of Territorial and Boundary Disputes, 1972–73 Brit. Y.B. Int’l L. 1, 109.Google Scholar

42 Nguyen Quoc Dinh, supra note 3, §301, at 471.

43 Sharma, supra note 12, at 338; see also id. at 196–211, 335–40 .

44 Reisman, supra note 12, at 677-82; see also Jennings, supra note 32, at 425-26.

45 Marcelo, G. Kohen La relation titreleffectivités dans le contentieux territorial á la lumiére de la jurisprudence récente, 108 Revue Générale De Droit International Public 561, 571–72 (2004)Google Scholar (criticizing Eritrea-Ethiopia commission).

46 Territorial Dispute (Libya/Chad), 1994 ICJ REP. 6 (Feb. 13); Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Bots./Namib.), 1999 Icj Rep. 1045 (Dec. 13); Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indon./Malay.), 2002 Icj Rep. 625 (Dec. 17).

47 Compare Cameroon v. Nigeria, supra note 39, at 474 (Koroma, J., dissenting), with id. at 506 (Mbaye, J., sep. op.); see also Rosalyn, Higgins, Problems and Process: International Law and how we Use It 227 (1994)Google Scholar (condemning Court’s failure to articulate choices about desired ends in relying upon equity in continental shelf cases).

48 See, e.g., Woolsey, supra note 31; see also Woolsey, L. H., The Settlement of the Chaco Dispute, 33 AJIL 126, 128 (1939)Google Scholar (limited scope of arbitration between Bolivia and Paraguay due to “the military victory of doughty Paraguay”).

49 Beth, A. Simmons, Capacity, Commitment, and Compliance: International Institutions and Territorial Disputes, 46 J. Conflict Res. 829, 848–49 (2002).Google Scholar

50 Colter, Paulson, Compliance with Final Judgments of the International Court of Justice Since 1987, 98 AJIL 434, 457 (2004)Google Scholar. I do not include the Gabčikovo-Nagymaros dispute in my count even though Paulson did.

51 Cukwurah, A. O., The Settlement of Boundary Disputes in International Law 150–51 (1967)Google Scholar (noting links between state of diplomatic relations and results of boundary negotiations). On the difficulties of implementing the boundary arbitral award between Ethiopia and Eritrea, see Christine, Gray, The Eritrea/Ethiopia Claims Commission Oversteps Its Boundaries: A Partial Award? 17 Eur. J. Int’l L. 699, 707–10 (2006).Google Scholar

52 Munich Agreement, UK-Fr.-Italy-Ger., Sept. 29, 1938, 36 Martens Nouveau Recueil 26. For a strong critique, see Quincy, Wright, The Munich Settlement and International Law, 33 AJIL 12 (1939).Google Scholar

53 Today, however, it would be found under the Vienna Convention that the Munich Agreement created no obligations for Czechoslovakia. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra note 9, Arts. 35, 52.

54 Letter from Anthony Eden to Jan, Masaryk (Aug. 5, 1942), in Postwar Territorial Settlements, 3 Whiteman, Digest §15, at 158.Google Scholar

55 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, supra note 9, Arts. 60, 62. But see SC Res. 687, para. 2 (Apr. 3, 1991), 30 ILM 847 (1991) (treating 1960 Iraq-Kuwait boundary agreement as still in force despite Iraq’s very material breach in invading Kuwait).

56 Whiteman, supra note 54, §17, at 268, 270.

57 Id. at 263.

58 Treaty Concerning the Polish-Soviet State Frontier, Pol.-USSR, Aug. 16, 1945, 10 UNTS 193.

59 For AJIL Editorial Comments condemning the solution, see Woolsey, L. H., Poland at Yalta and Dumbarton Oaks, 39 AJIL 295 (1945)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Herbert, Wright, Poland and the Crimea Conference, 39 AJIL 300.Google Scholar

60 K. Krishna, Rao, The Sino-Indian Boundary Question and International Law, 11 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 375, 375 (1962).Google Scholar

61 Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Tibet—Its Ownership and Human Rights Situation (Sept. 1992), available at <http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/tibet/index.htm.

62 Thomas, M. Franck, Duke et Decorum Est: The Strategic Role of legal Principles in the Falklands War, 77 AJIL 109 (1983)Google Scholar. As Franck recognizedy, id. at 119–23, appeals to principle often do not carry the day, or may run into appeals to countervailing principles. See W. Michael, Reisman, The Struggle for the Falklands, 93 Yale L.J. 287, 304–08 (1983)Google Scholar (clash between self-determination and decolonization norms).

63 Prescott, J. R. V., Political Frontiers and Boundaries 107 (1987).Google Scholar

64 Georges, Scelle, Le phénomène juridique du dédoublement fonctionnel, in Rechtsfragen Derinternationalen Organisation: Festschrift Fur H. Wehberg 324, 331 (1956).Google Scholar

65 Malcolm, Shaw, Title to Territory in Africa 236–40 (1986).Google Scholar

66 See Liselotte, Odgaard, The Spratly Dispute and Southeast Asian Security: Towards a Pluralist Regional Order? in Borderlands Under Stress, supra note 7, at 421, 423.Google Scholar This sort of posturing also takes place even about very unimportant islands. See Tobin Announces That Eighteen Lightstations Will Be Destaffed, Canada News Wire, Aug. 2, 1995, available in LEXIS, News Library, Wire Service Stories File (Canadian ministerial decision to maintain personnel at lighthouse at Machias Seal Island, in dispute between the United States and Canada,” [f]or sovereignty reasons”). I appreciate this morsel from John Crook.

67 For an official statement, see Historical Foundations of the Moroccaniry of the Sahara (n.d.), at <http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/reg_cit/regions/sahara/s_hist.htm (noting, regarding the Moroccan-organized assembly following Morocco’s 1975 Green March: “This way of consulting the population is in conformity with international law and international practice in the matter of decolonization.”).

68 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Aug. 12,1949, Art. 49(6), 6 UST 3516, 75 UNTS 287.

69 Zacher, supra note 15, at 223–34.

70 Robert, H. Mnookin & Lewis, Kornhauser, Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law. The Case of Divorce, 88 Yale L.J. 950 (1979).Google Scholar

71 Mat 968–71.

72 See supra note 28; see generally Paul, K. Huth, Standing Your Ground: Territorial Disputes and International Conflict 195–239 (1996)Google Scholar (describing 129 disputes from 1950 to 1990).

73 See Melvin Aron, Eisenberg, Private Ordering Through Negotiation: Dispute-Settlement and Rulemaking, 89 Harv. L. Rev. 637, 639 (1976)Google Scholar (dispute-negotiation “consists largely of the invocation, elaboration, and distinction of principles, rules, and precedents”).

74 U.S. Dep’t of State, 1911 Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States 573 (1918).

75 Philip, C. Jessup, El Chamizal, 67 AJIL 423 (1973).Google Scholar

76 See Wladyslaw, Czaplinski, The New Polish-German Treaties and the Changing Political Structure of Europe, 86 AJIL 163, 164–67 (1992)Google Scholar; Jochen Abr., Frowein, The Reunification of Germany, 86 AJIL 152, 157.Google Scholar

77 See Askar Halwan, Al-Enazy, “ The International Boundary Treaty” (Treaty ofjeddah) Concluded Between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Republic on June 12, 2000, 96 AJIL 161 (2002).Google Scholar

78 Baxter, R. R., International Law in “Her Infinite Variety,” 29 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 549, 565 (1980).Google Scholar

79 Mary Ellen, O’Connell, New International Legal Process, in The Methods of International Law 79, 83 (Steven, R. Ratner & Anne-Marie, Slaughter eds., 2004).Google Scholar

80 See Geoffrey, R. Watson, The Oslo Accords: International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreements 33–34 (2000).Google Scholar On the legal status of the Council’s resolutions, see id. at 31–33 (SC Res. 242), 36 (SC Res. 338).

81 See SC Res. 478 (Aug. 20, 1980). On the effect of the ICJ’s Wall advisory opinion on future negotiations over Jerusalem, see Moshe, Hirsch, The Legal Status of Jerusalem Following the LCJ Advisory Opinion on the Separation Barrier, 38 Isr. L. Rev. 298 (2005).Google Scholar

82 See, e.g., Frontier Dispute (Burk. Faso/Mali), 1986 Icj Rep. 554 (Dec. 22). On the reasons states have accepted norms against territorial aggrandizement, see Zacher, supra note 15, at 237–44 .

83 Opinion No. 3, supra note 34; see also Ratner, supra note 17 (criticizing opinion).

84 Rosalyn, Higgins, The Place of International Law in the Settlement of Disputes by the Security Council, 64 AJIL 1, 16 (1970)Google Scholar; see also Robert, Keohane, After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy 57–59 (1984).Google Scholar

85 See Baxter, supra note 78, at 565 (“channel negotiation and settlement into legal and orderly paths”).

86 Munkman, supra note 41, at 104, 109; Jacqueline Dutheil, de la Rochere, Lesprocédures de règlement des différends frontaliers, in La Frontière 112, 149 Google Scholar (Société francaise pour le droit international ed., 1980); see also Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question, India-P.R.C, Arts. V-VII, Apr. 11, 2005, available at <http://www.ipcs.org/guiding_principles.pdf.

87 The Aaland Islands Question: Report Submitted to the Council of the League of Nations by the Commission of Rapporteurs, League of Nations Doc. B7/21/68/106 (1921).

88 Czaplinski, supra note 76, at 165–67.

89 See Steven, R. Ratner, Does International Law Matter in Preventing Ethnic Conflict? 32 N.Y.U. J. Int’l L. & Pol. 591, 640–45 (2000)Google Scholar (principles of autonomous regimes offered by minorities commissioner of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to avoid possible secession of Crimea from Ukraine).

90 See Frowein, supra note 76, at 155 & n.19; Steven R. Ratner, The Cambodia Settlement Agreements, 87 AJIL 1,30–31, 36–37 (1993).

91 See Eisenberg, supra note 73, at 639.

92 See Charles, Lipson, Why Are Some International Agreements Informal? 45 Int’l Org. 495, 508–14 (1991).Google Scholar

93 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe: Final Act, Aug. 1, 1975, princ. Ill, 73 Dep’t st. Bull. 323 (1975), 14 ILM 1292, 1294 (1975); see also Harold, S. Russell, The Helsinki Declaration: Brobdingnag or Lillipu? 70 AJIL 242, 249–53 (1976).Google Scholar

94 Border Disputes Among States, OAU Res. AHG/Res.l6(I) (July 17-21, 1964), available at <http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/Documents/Decisions/hog/bHoGAssemblyl964.pdf .

95 Gonsiorowski, supra note 27, at 474–76. In the case of Upper Silesia, the League determined the division of the territory after a plebiscite but left the boundary up to the Conference of Ambassadors of the Allied Powers. méir Ydit, Internationalised Territories: from the “Free City of Cracow” to the “free City of Berlin” 46 (1961).

96 Steven, R. Ratner, The New UN Peacekeeping: Building Peace in lands of conflict after the Cold War 95–99, 115–16 (1995).Google Scholar

97 General Act of Arbitration (Pacific Settlement of International Disputes), chs. II—III, Sept. 26, 1928, 93 LNTS 345.

98 Gonsiorowski, supra note 27, at 476.

99 General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosn. & Herz.-Croat.-Fed. Rep. Yugo., Annex 2, Art. V, Dec, 14, 1995, 35 ILM 75, 113 (1996).

100 Rep. Srpska v. Fed. Bosn. & Herz., 36 ILM 396,426, para. 87 (Arb. Trib. for Boundary in Brcko Area 1997) (stating that “relevant legal principles do not require the award of the area in dispute to one party or the other”).

101 Id. at 408-10, paras. 34–41; 427–28, para. 88.

102 On Owen’s political sensitivities, see Sean, D. Murphy, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 93 AJIL 641–42 (1999).Google Scholar

103 See Jan, Klabbers, No More Shifting Lines? The Report of the Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Demarcation Commission, 43 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 904, 906–11 (1994).Google Scholar

104 Boundary Waters: Rio Grande and Rio Colorado, U.S.-Mex., Arts. I, VIII, Mar. 1, 1889, 26 Stat. 1512, 9 Bevans 877.

105 See International Boundary and Water Commission, 2002 Annual Report, available at <http://www.ibwc.state.gov/Files/Rpt2002E.PDF; see also Larman, C. Wilson, The Settlement of Boundary Disputes: Mexico, the United States, and the International Boundary Commission, 29 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 38 (1980).Google Scholar For a list of similar bodies, see Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of Its Forty-sixth Session, [1994] 2Y.B.Int’lL.Comm’n,pt.2,at89,125–26, UN Doc. A/CN.4/SER.A/1994/Add.l (Part2) (Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses and commentary).

106 Abram, Chayes & Antonia Handler, Chayes, The New Sovereignty: Compliance With International Regulatory Agreements (1995).Google Scholar

107 Higgins, supra note 84, at 7 (“[Resolutions which by implication take a stand on [the status of Jerusalem] have been passed without proper consideration of the legal issues involved.”).

108 See supra note 80.

109 For the resolution, see supra note 94.

110 On authority signals and control intention, see W. Michael, Reisman, International Lawmaking: A Process of Communication, 75 ASIL Proc. 101, 110–11 (1981)Google Scholar; see also Milano, supra note 20, at 151–73.

111 See, e.g., Robert, O. Keohane, International Relations and International Law: Two Optics, 38 Harv. Int’l L.J. 487 (1997).Google Scholar

112 Simmons, supra note 49; Allee & Huth, supra note 28. For a recent approach from the constructivist strand of international relations theory, see Thomas, Diez, Stephan, Stetter, & Mathias, Albert, The European Union and Border Conflicts: The Transformative Power of Integration, 60 Int’l Org. 563 (2006).Google Scholar

113 See, e.g., International Mediation in Theory and Practice (Saadia, Touval & I. William, Zartman eds., 1985)Google Scholar; Jacob, Bercovitch, Understanding Mediation’s Role in Preventive Diplomacy, 12 Negotiation J. 241 (1996).Google Scholar For a recent case study, see I. William, Zartman, Explaining Oslo, 2 Int’l negotiation 195 (1997).Google Scholar

114 See the review of opinions in Sharma, supra note 12, at 21–30. It also might explain the greater promise of courts for resolving maritime disputes compared to land disputes.