Editing Territorial integrity (section)

==History==
Prior to the [[modern era]], there was not a clearly defined system of international boundaries.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zacher |first1=Mark W. |title=The Territorial Integrity Norm: International Boundaries and the Use of Force |journal=International Organization |date=2001 |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=215–250 |doi=10.1162/00208180151140568 |url=https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/10676368.pdf |access-date=28 December 2023}}</ref> Rather, [[authority]] over territorial spaces was non-linear, often overlapping and shifting.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goettlich |first1=Kerry |title=The rise of linear borders in world politics |journal=European Journal of International Relations |date=2019 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=203–228 |doi=10.1177/1354066118760991 |url=https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/86028/}}</ref><ref>Zacher, p.216</ref> According to Mark Zacher, "precisely surveyed national borders only came into clear view in the eighteenth century".<ref>Zacher, p.216</ref> Guntram Herb dates the emergence of clearly defined political territories to the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Herb |first1=Guntram H. |editor1-last=Kaplan |editor1-first=David H. |editor2-last=Herb |editor2-first=G. Henrik |title=Nested Identities: Nationalism, Territory, and Scale |date=1999 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |location=United Kingdom |isbn=9780847684670 |page=10}}</ref>

The [[Peace of Westphalia]] in 1648 is commonly considered to have established territorial integrity as a cornerstone of [[sovereignty]], embodied in the concept of [[Westphalian sovereignty]], but even this did not necessarily reflect any absolute right to particular territory.<ref>Zacher, p.216</ref> Even after Westphalia, territorial exchange remained common between states. In turn, these states were culturally diverse and politically disorganized, and people were not collectively identified by state borders.<ref>Zacher, p.217</ref>

The emergence of [[nationalism]] and [[self-determination]] in the 18th and 19th centuries began to alter people's perception of the states in which they resided. Nationalism promoted the belief that territory belonged to a [[nation]] and that the territorial integrity of a nation should be respected.<ref>Zacher, p.217</ref> Guntram Herb argues national identity is "dependent on territory because only territory provides tangible evidence of the nation's existence and its historical roots, and a nation needs a clearly demarcated national territory to demand its own state".<ref>Herb, p.9</ref> John Etherington agrees, stating: "Underlying all nationalist claims over territory is the proposition that nation and territory ultimately belong to each other, to the extent that the characteristic features of each cannot be understood without making reference to the other".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Etherington |first1=John |title=Nationalism, Exclusion and Violence: A Territorial Approach |journal=Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism |date=2007 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=24–44 |doi=10.1111/j.1754-9469.2007.tb00160.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1754-9469.2007.tb00160.x |access-date=20 February 2024}} p.25</ref> He observes how, because all nationalist movements necessarily make territorial claims in a world marked by competing claims over territory, this becomes an essential part of their self-justification.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Etherington |first1=John |title=Nationalism, Exclusion and Violence: A Territorial Approach |journal=Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism |date=2007 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=24–44 |doi=10.1111/j.1754-9469.2007.tb00160.x |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1754-9469.2007.tb00160.x |access-date=20 February 2024}} p.25</ref>

Following [[World War I]], the establishment of the [[League of Nations]] ushered in a new era of international cooperation. The League's [[Covenant of the League of Nations|Covenant]] codified territorial integrity as a key principle of international law.<ref>Zacher, p.219</ref> However, the political conditions for maintaining the territorial status quo after the war were not always maintained and various post-war settlements involved exchanges of territory irrespective of local populations.<ref>Zacher", p.220</ref>

With the formation of the [[United Nations]] (UN) and, later, such organizations as the [[Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe]] (now [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]]), territorial integrity became a well-established part of international resolutions. The [[Charter of the United Nations|UN Charter of 1945]] affirmed states’ obligation not to use force to alter state boundaries.<ref>Zacher, p.221</ref> Enforcement difficulties in the 21st century<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jeria |first=Michelle Bachelet |date=2016 |title=The Challenges to International Law in the 21st Century |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-asil-annual-meeting/article/abs/challenges-to-international-law-in-the-21st-century/B4EC8B1CF5B483DB5368FF77F44452CE |journal=Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting |language=en |volume=110 |pages=3–11 |doi=10.1017/S0272503700102435 |issn=0272-5037}}</ref> have led to controversy on possible re-emergence of the [[right of conquest]] as [[international law]].<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10991-020-09250-3 | doi=10.1007/s10991-020-09250-3 | title=The Re-Emergence of Conquest: International Law and the Legitimate Use of Force | date=2020 | last1=Mulligan | first1=Michael | journal=Liverpool Law Review | volume=41 | issue=3 | pages=293–313 }}</ref>