On Borders and [dis]Orders: The Effects of the International Norm of "Border Fixity"

About

In the last 50–60 years, conquests and annexations of one's neighbors' territories are no longer acceptable tools of policy, as they were in the more distant past. Contrary to what we might expect, however, in regions in which most states are socio-politically weak, this new norm of "border fixity" results not in more peace but in more conflicts. For such states (which are common in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, and Central America) border fixity results in perpetuation and exacerbation of state weakness. Weak states in a world of fixed borders, in turn, are a source of frequent international conflicts, which arise out of spillover of internal conflicts and insurgency, as well as of foreign interventions.

This seminar will explore the logic of the theoretical argument and the empirical research with an emphasis on the case of state weakness and international conflict in Lebanon.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.