Zacher: The Territorial Integrity Norm

Zacher, Mark W. The Territorial Integrity Norm: International Boundaries and the Use of Force. International Organization 55 (Spring 2001): 215-250.

“…the growing respect for the proscription that force should not be used to alter interstate boundaries,” is an important change in the interactions of states internationally. This is referred to in this piece as the “territorial integrity norm” (215). This represents a dramatic shift from earlier periods of more intense and frequent territorial disputes that digressed into all out war.

Zacher outlines historical accounts of territorial wars and compares different time periods qualitatively and quantitatively.

Why did the territorial integrity norm become embedded?

“First, states have backed the norm for both instrumental and ideational reasons, though the former have dominated…Second, the reasons for such a change in beliefs and practices have varied among countries, and no single factor explains the support for the norm among a particular grouping of states” (238).

“Clearly, a central source of the norm ahs been the industrialized world’s fear that territorial revisionism could ignite a major war that would cause great human suffering” (245).

“Wars of territorial aggrandizement since 1945 have, for the most part, concerned developing states’ dissatisfaction with the boundaries they inherited from the colonial powers; but these quarrels are largely coming to an end” (245).

“One should not discount the contribution of economic trends in the strengthening of the territorial integrity norm, especially in recent decades” (245).

“There is not a simple answer to why the territorial integrity norm has emerged as a central pillar of the international order. Different reasons were key for two major groupings of states, and the coincidence of several factors seems to have been crucial to their backing” (246).