BOUNDARIESTHE LIMITS OF STATES

DEFINITION

Boundary : a line separating one State from another

Where one State's power (sovereignty) ends and another's begins Boundary lines are vertical from the air to beneath the ground

Boundaries determine which language you learn, how much you pay in taxes, and legal code that you are subject to

NATURAL BOUNDARIESNatural or Physical boundaries are those based on recognizable physiographic features, such as mountains, rivers, and lakes.

Proved to be unsatisfactory borders, they do not effectively separate states.

GEOMETRIC BOUNDARIESStraight lines that serve as political boundaries that are unrelated to physical and /or cultural differences, i.e., United States/Canadian border.

Cultural Political Boundary

political boundary that separates different cultures, i.e., former Yugoslavia.

Superimposed BoundaryBoundary that has been forced upon the inhabitants of an area to solve a problem and/or conflict, i.e., Indonesia/Papua New Guinea.

The Berlin Conference was Africa's undoing in more ways than one. The colonial powers superimposed their domains on the African continent.

Relict Boundary- boundary that ceases to exist, however the imprint of the boundary still remains on the cultural landscape, i.e., North/South Vietnam.

Boundary Demarcation

there are no physical signs on Earth's surface to show that a boundary exists, i.e., Saudi Arabia/Omen.

Fortified Boundary- when a state constructs physical barriers along a boundary to either keep people in or out of its territory, i.e., Great Wall of China, Berlin Wall, earth berms along the Morocco/Spanish Sahara border.

BOUNDARY DISPUTES

Boundaries and border create many possibilities for conflict

The more neighbors a state has, the more likely the chance for conflict

Definitional or Positional Disputes

Definition: Disagreement about actual location of a boundary i.e., Argentina and Chile Dispute

> Highest peaks of Andes and > East and West flowing rivers

Territorial Disputes

Definition: Two States argue over territory occupied by an ethnic group

> Caused most often by superimposed boundaries

Example: Ethiopia and Somalia

Somalia clashed with Ethiopia over Somalis living in Ethiopia

Allocational or Resource DisputesDefinition: Disagreement over the control or use of shared resources, such as fishing groundsExamples: Mexico and US (Colorado River) and US and Canada (Georges Bank fishing in Atlantic Ocean), 1990 Persian Gulf War (Rumalia Oil Field)