Three Territorial Disputes You May Not Have Heard of

Sep 12, 2022 | Daniel Hayward
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Living in Thailand, and closely linked to efforts supporting individuals and groups in Myanmar handling the aftermath of the 2021 military coup, the author hears frequent comments as to why the international focus on Ukraine has not been maintained in Asia. There are many reasons for this, and it is not the author;s aim to answer such questions here. However, in his journeys around Asia, the author frequently learns about local territorial disputes with which outsiders to the region would be unacquainted. Many of these cases were unknown to him, and so this What to Read digest has allowed a closer look at recent papers concerning three different disputes.

What we see are complex cases drawing upon mixed readings of historical and political relationships between emerging states. Indeed, such are the pluralistic interpretations of the past that it can be difficult for international legal mechanisms to make a clear ruling on the rights of one actor over the other. Yet such disputes can also be about the present and represent strategic stances to justify and promote national identities. The rise of nationalist populism often shrouds ambiguities in the demarcation of state borders, although such ambiguities are then used to fire up the rhetoric. The final paper in this digest presents a fascinating view of how two countries promote their causes through carpet museums. This shows that while land can be fought for as a commodity, it is also so much more, supporting social, cultural, and religious identities.

Articles reviewed in this issue:

• The April 2021 Kyrgyz-Tajik Border Dispute: Historical and Causal Context
• Interstitial Space and the High Himalayan Dispute between China and India
• Heritage and territorial disputes in the Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict: a comparative analysis of the carpet museums of Baku and Shusha