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This article provides an overview of the regional geopolitics at the India-China border, focusing on the challenges and disputes surrounding territorial sovereignty and border demarcation. It discusses the ongoing military standoffs and conflicts at the border, as well as China's presence in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The article also explores the impact of these dynamics on India's geopolitical ambitions in Central Asia and its relationship with Nepal. It highlights the complex relationship between India, China, Nepal, and Bhutan, and the challenges India faces in countering China's influence in the region. [Extracted from the article]

Contrary to the conventional understanding of North Korean borders as classic barriers that block infiltration of outside influences, this paper argues that the Sino-North Korean border region has undergone considerable transformations, especially at the local level. By analysing local-level trans-border activities, it shows that North Korea seeks to develop the Sino-North Korean border region as a space of opportunity. Even the heightened political conflicts between China and North Korea and the tightened international sanctions against North Korea failed to dampen local actors' economic imperatives, particularly after the 2012 and 2013 decentralisations in North Korea. Local actors were active in driving trans-border economic practices and, in turn, transformed the Sino-North Korean border region into potential cross-border cooperation zones. Although there has been conflict and competition in border region development between North Korea and China, we argue that local governments and entrepreneurs' efforts to maximise economic independence in the border regions are persisting, and their geo-economic imperatives are important factors in reshaping the Sino-North Korean border region by initiating and advancing trans-border interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the conflict between Venezuela and Guyana in the Essequibo border region. This long-standing dispute could escalate due to the new Latin America strategy of the USA, which includes a military deterrence strategy against the growing influence of China and Russia. Brazil has strengthened its armed forces at the borders with Venezuela and Guyana. The conflict revolves around the Essequibo territory, which is rich in oil and natural resources and affects various international treaties on border settlement between Venezuela and Guyana. There have been attempts at a settlement, but the conflict has further intensified with threats and military actions from both sides. There is hope for a peaceful solution through dialogue and negotiations. The conflict has a geostrategic dimension between the USA and Latin America and has global significance in the context of the new West-South/East conflict. [Extracted from the article]

This essay contributes to literature on the intersections of white settler colonialisms, racial capitalism, and U.S.-Mexico borderlands history by tracing the web of spatial, temporal, and legal power relations that produced El Paso, Texas' seemingly legitimate possession of stolen Mexican territory known as "El Chamizal" in the El Paso-Cd. Juárez borderlands. This land theft became the Chamizal Dispute: an international land and boundary conflict between the U.S. and Mexico caused by the meandering Río Grande that defines the "fixed" international border between El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. In the 1860s, multiple shifts in the Rio Grande "relocated" El Chamizal north of this river/boundary. Soon thereafter, and despite Mexico's sustained claim to and jurisdiction over this land, recently arrived Anglo American settlers incorporated El Chamizal into the nascent City of El Paso. In 1964, the U.S. and Mexico finally agreed to resolve this conflict by virtue of the landmark Chamizal Treaty, which ceded 630-acres of El Paso to Cd. Juárez as El Chamizal. Contrary to what dominant state accounts and the mainstream historical literature on this settlement would have us believe, however, this ceded land includes only a fraction of the original contested terrain. El Chamizal therefore remains a stolen tract of land nestled within the heart of El Paso. Drawing on oral histories, court testimonies and affidavits, and an array of binational records, this essay demonstrates that this ongoing theft is not a finite or complete project. Rather, the process hinges on a fragile web of spatial, white settler temporal, and legal practices of concealment/denial anchored to a colonial rumor that refuses to open this region to the mystery and wonder of the Río Grande's "wayward life, beautiful experiment in how to live." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conference "Un)United Europe? Borders and Border Crossings in German and Austrian Literature after 2000" took place from November 22 to 25, 2023 in Prague. The conference discussed European border discourses from various perspectives and focused on the theme of the border in literature. The event was attended by various speakers from eight countries who spoke about different aspects of the border issue. There were also plenary lectures by Jürgen Eder and Manfred Weinberg, who addressed historical-political questions and border concepts. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Germanoslavica - Zeitschrift für Germanoslawische Studien is the property of Slovansky ustav AV CR, v.v.i. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, the author Gabriela Becker Pinto addresses institutionalization in the border area between Brazil and Uruguay in the context of the consolidation of a Regional Citizenship. The objective of the research was to investigate the possibilities of institutional and legal development in this border area. It is concluded that the border between Brazil and Uruguay is a geopolitically privileged area and that its institutional utilization enables the emergence of greater dynamism for regional integration and the functioning of Mercosur. The importance of regional integration in Latin America, specifically in the borders between Brazil and Uruguay, is highlighted, and the efforts made to improve the quality of life of the populations in the border areas are mentioned. It is concluded that these projects have significantly improved the quality of life in the border regions and have strengthened regional integration and Mercosur. The article also analyzes borders as territorial limits and places of identification, and highlights the importance of peaceful conflict resolution and the role of Regional Integration Law and Human Rights in integration processes. The Mercosur Citizenship Statute is mentioned, which establishes rights and benefits for citizens of the Mercosur Member States, including border integration. Additionally, the Legal Statute of the Brazil-Uruguay Border is mentioned, which regulates integration in the border area between these two countries. In conclusion, the borders between Brazil and Uruguay represent a laboratory for improving regional integration and creating a regional border citizenship. [Extracted from the article]

There is a plethora of research on border disputes, border dispute resolution, unsettled borders, and artificially drawn borders. Yet, no study has so far been conducted on the comparative analysis of borders settled with mandatory powers and between nation-states. This article fills this research lacuna and makes a novel contribution to border scholarship by exploring the linkages between border settlement dynamics and the border status quo. In analysing and comparing Turkey's borders drawn between the 1920s and the 1930s, it is shown that Turkey's Iraqi and Syrian borders settled with mandatory powers (Britain and France respectively) have resulted in the emergence of alternative border imaginations by one of the neighbouring states, albeit without reaching the level of an official demand to change the status quo. Since its independence, Syria has produced an alternative border imagination with respect to its Turkish border by showing Turkey's Hatay province within its borders in its official maps and documents. Since the cession of Mosul to Iraq, Turkey's alternative border imagination has taken the form of state actors' contemplations about resettling the border. In sharp contrast, the Turkish-Iranian border, settled after long consultations between two independent nation-states, effectively resolved boundary-related problems, resulting in the mutual endorsement of the border status-quo. This article concludes that border settlement processes create path-dependent effects that are carried over to subsequent generations of state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kokang is an ethnic minority group that settled along the Myanmar-China borderland with dual identity as it has long historical ties of nationalism and patronage with various political factions in China while located outside China's border. This article explores how Kokang's Ethnic Revolutionary Organization (ERO), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and their leaders construct Kokang's identity to their benefit. Based on desk research method, the article found that Kokang's dual identity allows them to self-categorize themselves as Chinese or separate-independent ethnic minorities in Myanmar while setting ethnic boundaries with various political entities to protect their interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the discussion of the relationship between the border factor and geopolitics in the post-Soviet area and strives to identify the drivers and obstacles in the sphere of territorial integration between Kazakhstan and Russia. The aim of the article is to characterize the geopolitical landscape of thses countries and to reveal the ambivalent context of Kazakhstan's cooperation with regions across Russian-Kazakhstani border proceeding from the analysis of the interests of key players in Central Asia and the current status of the cross-border cooperation between two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional accounts of the history of the sovereign state system assume that territorial sovereignty originated in Europe and spread to the rest of the world through colonial expansion. This implies that territory, which is a core feature of the modern state, and more specifically, linear borders, had not existed outside Europe before other societies encountered the West. Focusing on early modern Japan, this article challenges that assumption by showing that there was a similar territorial order outside Europe that developed in parallel with its European counterpart. Through an investigation of boundary disputes, boundary markers, and map-making during the Edo period (1603–1868), it demonstrates that linear borders were not foreign to early modern Japan. Domains in Edo Japan were already well into the process of building a territorial order with demarcated borders and mutual exclusion. This article contributes to International Relations scholarship by addressing the "Westphalian myth" from a geographical rather than temporal perspective and shifting the focus of the study of non-Western international systems from differences to similarities. It also suggests a potential revision of scholarly understandings of discontinuity before and after the Meiji Restoration in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the death of the founding President Islam Karimov in 2016, Shevket Mirziyoyev came to power, and so Uzbekistan has undergone significant changes in foreign policy since then. These changes have been reflected in Uzbekistan's innovative roadmap which aims to improve various sectors including economy, education, and social welfare. Under Mirziyoyev's leadership, Uzbekistan has taken several steps to improve its relations with neighboring countries and the international community. One of the key changes has been a shift towards a more open and pragmatic approach to foreign policy. This has involved the pursuit of closer ties with regional powers such as Russia and China, as well as an increased focus on engaging with the United States, Türkiye and European Union. In addition to these efforts, Uzbekistan has also sought to strengthen its relationships with neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, with a view to promote regional stability and cooperation. This has included the resolution of long-standing border disputes and the signing of a series of agreements aimed at enhancing economic ties. In this study, first, the geopolitical and strategic importance of Turkistan and Uzbekistan will be discussed, and then the changes and cooperation processes in the foreign policy of the Mirziyoyev period will be tried to be explained. The differences between the foreign policy of the Islam Karimov period and the foreign policy of the Mirziyoyev period, and some anticipations on the reflections of the changing foreign policy vision on the region will be explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Border delimitations and border disputes were an important part of the early modern process of state formation and the consolidation of power. As such, they are often taken into consideration when studying political and dynastic issues, such as succession disputes, while maps are frequently studied as a form of visualisation to depict territories and borders. So far, however, neither the administrative activities involved in these processes nor the border treaties (Grenzrezesse) which constitute the most important type of source for this area of research have been studied. The aim of this paper is to examine this topic using the principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel as an example. This principality saw the creation and later on the expansion of administrative structures concerned with border issues from the 16th century onwards. The central aspect analysed in this paper is the process of how border disputes were settled. This was mostly achieved through border commissions. Each party involved in the conflict assigned representatives, both officials of the administrative institutions responsible for border issues (Grenzbehörden) as well as privy councillors (Geheime Räte) to serve as commissioners on these commissions. The result of their work were border treaties. These include narrationes explaining the circumstances of the conflict and of the commission, while the dispositiones comprise the articles listing the terms that had been agreed upon. Compared to administrative records pertaining to border disputes (Grenzakten), border treaties generally offer more information. This is why, when researching these phenomena, this distinctly early modern type of charter is of particular importance. It can serve as a compendium of an entire border dispute and, if there is a proper archival description, as a sort of finding aid for the record in question. This paper therefore also analyses the history of the development of this type of charter. Boundary maps, the third type of source discussed served to visualize and delineate the demarcation of borders, but seem to have been of rather minor importance at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is a literary analysis of Munaweera's Island of Thousand Mirrors employing the framework of borderlands, mestiza consciousness and absence presence. The work has been explored earlier utilizing the issues of identity crisis, psychological aspects of dislocation, and senselessness of war, gendered hierarchies, and refugee theories. The present study, however, accomplishes that the selected work reveals horrendous violence and brutality committed on the basis of ethnicity and border conflicts. Unavoidably, borders either physical or mental reflect flagrant boundaries, margins, and limits. Similar schism is observable in the course of events throughout the novel. The characters with the exception of a few, are ensnared in the mesh of tenuous boundaries and fences and are unable to surpass these barriers. I argue that in order to surmount these fences, and to arrive at their essential humanity, the characters of the novel need to resort to mestiza consciousness. As new mestiza deals with differences by nurturing a tolerance for conflicts and reservations (78). There are the stages of mestiza consciousness that are required to be experienced before its complete acquisition. The analysis verifies that the stages of mestiza consciousness that appeared far-reaching in the characters' positive attitudes are La mezcla and la facultad because of their tolerance building gift. I also argue that the characters remain stranded in their self-presumed variances, which materialize the absent presence of borders that are in actuality nonexistent. Therefore, this state of affairs hedges the story with ensuing gory conflicts and violence, thus making the hypothetical absent borders perceptible as if present. Only a few characters demonstrate the ability to transcend these borders by executing mestiza consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within contemporary developments of Asian regional security, a core undertone of conflict catalysts and motivations for territorial claims is directly motivated through archaeological findings. These findings include artefacts and settlements, which are utilised to justify political and territorial claims in the region. This overlooked factor will be analysed using three regional case studies through an archaeological and security studies lens. The research aims to further understand Asia Pacific regional security and political disputes and reflect conflict motivation undertones of each interacting nation-state. The article assesses core case studies of Chinese claims in the South China Sea, Japanese and Korean island claims, and Thai-Cambodian temple disputes. The research will analyse how site evidence becomes politicised to justify territorial claims in Asia- Pacific. Through interdisciplinary research, the article will conclude with a greater understanding of assessing conflict development and motivations between state actors in the Asia Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Poyang Lake is the property of Journal of Poyang Lake Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Brief analysis of political relations between Chilean President Salvador Allende and contemporary Argentine governments. During the Allende government, the latter country was between the military dictatorship and the transition to democracy, which was reinstated with the assumption of the Argentine presidency of the Peronist Héctor J. Cámpora in May 1973. Consequently, we approached Allende's political relations with the successive governments which, with different ideological signs, followed up from the military dictatorship to the resignation of President Cámpora and the interim presidency of Raúl Lastiri. Our emphasis is placed on the outstanding aspects of the political relations carried out between the governments of both countries, such as the coincidences reached on border issues, economic cooperation, and the problems related to the requests for political asylum from Argentine guerrillas who fled to Chile in 1972, as well as the conspiracies of far-right Chilean opponents operating clandestinely in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the Colombian Armed Forces' operations in the 1932-1933 Colombian-Peruvian border conflict and the negotiations before and after the ratification of the Salomón-Lozano Treaty of 1922 between the two countries. To this end, a documentary review of press reports at the time and other historical sources is carried out to verify to what extent this conflict determined the bilateral relations between the two countries. The results show that Colombia's diplomatic and military strategy in handling the resolution of the conflict enhanced the development of the Colombian Armed Forces, positioning the country before the international community and the region as a strong nation with good diplomatic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the issue of the state border. It emphasizes the fact that the state border is a multi-component and multifunctional phenomenon. It was proved that a legally established and internationally recognized border acquires a sign of politicality. The political boundary is a holistic and dynamic phenomenon, inherent in the internal logic of development. The issues of functioning and institutional support of state borders were generalized. The influence of state borders on the development of border territories was revealed. A scheme for the development and integration of contact border areas has been developed. The factors of contact border regions development were studied, as well as the process of various types of regional socio-economic systems formation under the condition of the predominance of state border certain functions. The importance of the functioning of state borders and the development of border regions for the formation of various types of ties, the level of stability of the border and the formation of a political environment have been clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cartographic Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth-Century Americas: edited by Ernesto Capello and Julia B. Rosenbaum, London, Routledge, 2020, 268 pp., £96.00 (hardback), ISBN 9780367333263 Unfortunately, although this book deals with the visual and material culture of mapping, the hardcover copy offers only black-and-white illustrations. Maps have frequently been regarded as significant sources in cultural and historical scholarship: in particular, the intertwined, interlinked and interdependent relationships between maps and identity have been crucial issues. [Extracted from the article]

The definition of online dispute resolution (ODR) has become increasingly contested, particularly fueled by the recent explosion in the use of technology during the pandemic by courts and alternative dispute resolution practitioners. The recent expansion of stakeholders has contributed productively to the on-going discussion of the parameters of ODR that have implications for ethical practice. Does the use of video conferencing constitute ODR? What new procedural and substantive justice concerns arise with the use of technology in dispute handling and how should they be addressed? Since technology not only alters the role of third parties and disputants but also serves as a fourth party, what are the ethical implications for example, of employing artificial intelligence? How can explorations of the boundaries of ODR foster a re-imaging of 21st Century justice systems? This article explores the importance of the parameters of ODR for the ethical practice of dispute resolution and introduces a paper, Framing the Parameters of Online Dispute Resolution (National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, 2022) that offers a descriptive ODR Framework; one that encompasses the broad range of views on the boundaries of ODR along an axis of increasing reliance on technology through various functions and stages of dispute handling. The article discusses the implications of this ODR Framework for enhancing ethical guidance and regulation for whatever definition of ODR is utilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of West Pomeranian Review / Przegląd Zachodniopomorski is the property of University of Szczecin Press / Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecinskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Republican Congress in 1870 joined an international effort to redefine laws of citizenship, resulting in the Naturalization Act. While previous histories of the act focus on the domestic origins of the law, this article places the Naturalization Act in a global context, seeing it as a response to international and domestic disputes sparked by global migration. The success of US-backed treaties guaranteeing freedom of movement and the right to change one's citizenship (i.e., the right of expatriation) triggered new concern about the allegiances of immigrants and fueled Republican calls for greater federal control over the naturalization process. The bills that ultimately resulted in the Naturalization Act of 1870 sparked bitter debate as policymakers, diplomats, and foreign-born Americans negotiated the racial, ethnic, and political boundaries of American citizenship. Targeted by Republican naturalization reforms, European immigrants and their allies shifted legislators' attention to Chinese immigrants to reinforce the racial borders of citizenship and deflect Republican attacks on their own loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I critically review the literature on the Bangladesh-India borderlands to raise a couple of questions: What are the major themes and issues on the Bangladesh-India border? What are the research prospects on the border issues between the two states? Bangladesh and India share a common border of 4096 km, with a range of cross-border issues determining their bilateral relationship and cooperation. Several border issues have not only clouded these relations but have also led to the exchange of fire between the two countries' border security forces over disputed territory. This contribution broadly reviews Bangladesh-India cross-border issues and specifically calls attention to Bangladesh-India cross-border relations in the realm of comparative border research, which will expand our socio-political, economic, geographic and cultural understandings of bordering practices and border policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces the development of China–India studies from the mid-nineteenth century to the present in order to take stock of the field, which has witnessed a surge in publication over the past two decades. The assessment presented here weaves the main shifts in China–India political relations with the emergence of various strands of China–India scholarship, since the two aspects often intersect. The major lacuna in the field, this essay argues, is a framework needed to analyze the complex connections and the pertinent comparisons between China and India. It contends that research on China–India topics should ideally attempt to combine comparative and connective frameworks with analyses that transcend geographic, temporal, and disciplinary boundaries to address this lacuna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and India have surprised the world by their military brinkmanship since mid-2020 amid the global coronavirus pandemic. Also surprising was their sudden disengagement at a key site, Pangong Tso Lake area in the western sector of their disputed boundary, in February 2021. But the continuing crisis has eroded their summit-level consensus reached in 2018 and 2019 that they were neighbourly partners, not rivals. The genesis of this crisis is the clash of their new perspectives on the Kashmir issue which, originally an India–Pakistan affair, has now become a major Chinese concern as well. Two new game changers in the troubled Sino–Indian engagement have caused this crisis. The author suggests a nuanced agreement on mutual military accommodation. Such an accord could create the ambience for serious negotiations to settle the intractable Sino–Indian boundary disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ethio-Eritrea border war, which took place from 1998–2000, was not formally resolved until the signing of a peace declaration on 9 July 2018. Known as a 'fight between two bald men over a comb', this conflict has long puzzled social scientists and political analysts. While the two countries provided different explanations for the conflict to rally public support and justify the price of war, the author argues that the conflict exceeded the logics of territorial integrity. Rather, he contends that given the colonial legacy of intentionally instituting borders to divide communities and ethnic groups, it is not possible to fully understand the border dispute without accounting for the transnational nature of the ruling ethnic groups. This is because the border and ethnic conflicts that have characterised post-colonial Africa have usually been linked to the creation of inter-ethnic groups, intra-ethnic competition and artificial boundaries between neighbouring nation-states. The Ethio-Eritrea border dispute is best understood through the lens of an ethno-linguistic struggle for supremacy disguised as a patriotic campaign against invaders. The paper concludes by reflecting on the durability of the 2018 peace declaration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disaster governance encompasses the responsibility and management of disaster mitigation, relief and recovery as well as power and politics around these areas of action. Research on disaster governance focuses on various scales of action when examining the implications of disaster governance frameworks for particular populations and there is growing scholarship on the impacts that national politics and programmes have on local efforts. Under-represented in these discussions is an engagement with the relationality of disaster governance within national boundaries, not just vertically (i.e., the local in relation to the national) but horizontally--the local in relation to other locals. Through an examination of Ladakh in relation to neighbouring Kashmir, this article shows how local efforts to enhance disaster governance have been stymied both by the vertical (local-centre) politics of border security and conflict, as well as by the material effects that politics and violence in neighbouring Kashmir Valley have on Ladakh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of land border issues between Kenya and Somalia over the disputes of maritime delimitation problems. The current maritime delimitation dispute between the two countries sharing the same coastline along the Indian Ocean and located in the north-east of the African Continent is due to the divergent interpretation of the two States from the land border as to the appropriate direction of the maritime border. Following the failed negotiations between the two countries on resolving the maritime border dispute, on 28 August 2014, Somalia filed a complaint before the International Court of Justice before Kenya, and the final judgment of the court is awaited. The decision to be announced by the International Court of Justice is also important for countries with similar problems. The study argues that the Somali population living in Kenya is an important factor in Kenya's approach to the problem. In the study, literature review, content and discourse analysis, which are among the qualitative research methods, were used. In recent years, when considering the point where Somalia- Turkey relations, it is evaluated that the study is important in terms of contributing to the Turkish literature by examining maritime delimitation dispute experienced by Somalia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

he formation and disintegration of the U.S.S.R. was one of the vital historical events of the 20th century. The Central Asian republics were established by the Soviet government in the 1920s and 1930s as a result of the national and territorial state delimitation, and the borders between them were provisional. As the republics obtained political independence, the process of defining state borders between the new sovereign countries began. This process turned out to be difficult for Uzbekistan, among others, but the republic was mostly able to mutually resolve interstate borders issues based on “uti possidetis.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The centuries-long existence of Croatian lands in different political and geographical frameworks, as well as their bordering position between civilizational and culturally diverse and often opposing political and territorial units, have conditioned the process of very dynamic political, territorial and demographic changes that gradually shaped the borders of the modern Republic of Croatia. The area of the Croatian Danube region with the country's eastern national border to Serbia, has not been exempt from such historical and geographical dynamism. The genesis of the Croatian national border in this area is mostly recent, but its emergence in 1945 as the republic border between Croatia and Serbia within the newly established socialist Yugoslavia was indirectly conditioned by the historical and geographical processes that preceded it. With the independence of the Republic of Croatia and other republics of the former Yugoslavia, a number of open border and territorial disputes created by the change of the republic's borders to national ones occurred. The above mentioned eastern national border of Croatia is among such disputed areas. Its northern segment which is related to the stream of the Danube river became an object of Croatian territorial dispute, firstly with FR Yugoslavia and afterwards with its successor Serbia, mostly due to the opposing geographic and legal interpretations concerning borderline, and the fact that the precise delineation was not conducted during the time of socialist Yugoslavia. The actual border dispute between Croatia and Serbia in the Danube river region is contextualized in the paper through a historical and geographical analysis of the border's genesis. A review of historical and geographical facts, as well as a valorisation of both countries' views on the matter of the disputed border segments are used to reach relevant conclusions regarding the dispute in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses is the property of Universidad de La Laguna and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the end of the 18th century, different Portuguese and Brazilian administrations have been concerning creating mechanisms of compulsion to work aimed at populations not legally enslaved in the Amazon. After the abolition of the captivity of indigenous peoples, in 1755, successive laws sought to establish rigid official bases (not infrequently exasperated by the daily practices of coercion) so that the free and freed poor, especially Indians, blacks and mestizos, were obliged to carry out work activities both in services and public works, as for private individuals. These workers were employed in fundamental economic functions such as transportation, extractivism, farming, trade, among others, in a scenario in which the presence of black slaves was significantly less than in other Brazilian regions. Based on this, we intend to analyze how public authorities and private agents articulated legal forms aiming at impelling the free and free poor to work, and how these instruments sought to regulate and naturalize ethnic and social differences aiming at maximum retention and control of all non-slave labor available in the Amazon in the 19th century. Equally, the ways in which these populations experienced, reacted and opposed such legal advances against their freedom will be emphasized, mobilizing through escapes, organizing politically in areas of border disputes and making use of natural resources not only for their survival, but also to reaffirm their sociocultural and economic autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conflict over the Atuel River is a longstanding struggle. But the conflict should not be reduced to the mere political confrontation between La Pampa and Mendoza. Disputes do not recognize jurisdictional boundaries. The territories are the setting of power conflicts among different social subjects. The appropriation of communal natural resources by certain subjects to the detriment of others constitutes one of the most complex problems of social relations. The territorial impacts on the Atuel wetlands area in both provinces continue as a result of the dispossetion of water resources. The conceptions of extractivism and development are very enlightening to understand this process. Therefore, the aim of this article is to analyze from a critical perspective the appropriation of the water flows of the Atuel river and its current territorial impacts, based on authors who approach the subject from the extractive processes and development paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The making of the 1864 Spanish-Portuguese Boundary Treaty and the extinction of the so-called Couto Mixto offer a privileged micro-laboratory to study some of the geographic basis underlying the transition from the Ancien Regime to the Liberal State in the two Iberian countries. The disappearance of this space, which was the scene of the main international dispute addressed in that Treaty, symbolises the imposition of modern state territoriality on local border populations. This imposition implied the replacement of jurisdictional boundaries by territorial ones, that of diffuse borders by linear ones, or that of hybrid sovereignties by exclusive ones. This work analyses that process by drawing on Spanish and Portuguese archival sources, as well as through a critical geopolitical approach which focuses on the conflicts that it gave rise to, the actors and interests involved at different scales, and the territorial representations and discourses mobilised by those actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with a key concern in boundary studies namely what are the major forces which inform boundaries and boundary demarcation/making. Boundaries being quintessentially geographical are infused with social, political and spatial content. While the Berlin Conference imposed national boundaries using geography as a colonial tool, the principle of boundaries imposed at the intra-national scale is a current concern. The paper focusses on boundary demarcation in post-apartheid South Africa through a consideration of the Matatiele boundary dispute. Matatiele, a small town, situated towards the south-western corner of KwaZulu-Natal, but now part of the Eastern Cape Province, has been the subject of a longstanding boundary dispute between the two provinces. The matter has been a subject of a number of protracted court battles between residents of the town and the different tiers of government, the provincial and national tiers of government in particular. The paper details the struggle for spatial justice – the political strategies, in particular – of proponents for the inclusion of Matatiele into KwaZulu-Natal. The paper demonstrates that in a (quasi) federal spatial formation such as South Africa, boundaries are politically overdetermined at the national scale. The local democratic content, therefore, is rendered inconsequential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After her independence in 1961, the new government of Tanganyika (now called Mainland Tanzania) embarked on the establishment of new administrative units, namely regions, districts, wards, villages, and hamlets as well as establishing political and administrative boundaries. The government expected that local communities would peacefully utilize the existing resources within the respective administrative units. Contrary to that, the newly established administrative units and their respective boundaries caused conflicts in different parts of Mainland Tanzania. The reviewed literature suggests that conflicts emerged over pieces of land that separated the borders and ethnically created boundaries. Using archival sources, interviews, newspapers and documentary reviews, this paper argues that boundary conflicts between peasants and pastoralists in Kiteto District were caused by political and administrative decisions of the post-colonial government which ignored the traditional land administrative units and boundaries. The new boundaries were set up for political interests; they ignored traditional boundary settings and violated land laws and procedures during the installation of the boundary marks. The paper is thought to be significant as it contributes to the existing scholarship on border disputes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the essence and basis of boundary disputes in East Africa. By way of a case-study approach, guided by the theory of territorial materialism, the study observes that the 'colonial causation' narrative, exemplified in the ethnic partitioning/disintegration hypothesis, does not wholly explain contemporary boundary/border disputes in East Africa, but also elsewhere in the continent. The article posits that contemporary boundary disputes in the focal area are largely associated with territorial struggles motivated by the quest for the control of geostrategic and economic resources on the affected borderlines and frontiers. The article also proposes a sub-regional mechanism for border governance and security as the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]