IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v105y2011i02p415-436_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does International Law Promote the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes? Evidence from the Study of Territorial Conflicts since 1945

Author

Listed:
  • HUTH, PAUL K.
  • CROCO, SARAH E.
  • APPEL, BENJAMIN J.

Abstract

In this article, we explain the role of international law in the resolution of territorial disputes from 1945 to 2000. In doing so, we focus on three outcomes of interest. First, when do states choose to revise the territorial status quo through negotiations instead of force? Second, when are states able to reach a final settlement? Third, when do states prefer a process of legal dispute resolution (i.e., adjudication or arbitration) to bilateral negotiations? To answer these questions, we argue that when the legal principles relevant to the dispute are unambiguous and clearly favor one side, a law-based focal point will emerge. This focal point, in turn, facilitates the settlement process by helping leaders overcome distribution problems, a central obstacle in reaching a final agreement. We find strong and consistent empirical support for our hypotheses regarding international law and peaceful dispute resolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Huth, Paul K. & Croco, Sarah E. & Appel, Benjamin J., 2011. "Does International Law Promote the Peaceful Settlement of International Disputes? Evidence from the Study of Territorial Conflicts since 1945," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 105(2), pages 415-436, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:105:y:2011:i:02:p:415-436_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055411000062/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Canile D. D Williams, 2024. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance in Preventing the Resurgence of Military Coups in West Africa," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(1), pages 255-264, January.
    2. Justwan Florian & Fisher Sarah K., 2017. "International Adjudication and Public Opinion in Territorial Disputes: Evidence from a Survey Experiment Using Amazon Mechanical Turk," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(3), pages 1-18, August.
    3. David B. Carter & Luwei Ying, 2021. "The Gravity of Transnational Terrorism," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(4), pages 813-849, April.
    4. Michaela Mattes, 2018. "“Chipping Away at the Issuesâ€," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(1), pages 94-118, January.
    5. Stephen E. Gent & Megan Shannon, 2014. "Bargaining power and the arbitration and adjudication of territorial claims1," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(3), pages 303-322, July.
    6. Vanessa A. Lefler, 2015. "Strategic forum selection and compliance in interstate dispute resolution," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 32(1), pages 76-98, February.
    7. David A. Welch, 2017. "The Justice Motive in East Asia’s Territorial Disputes," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 71-92, January.
    8. David B Carter, 2017. "History as a double-edged sword," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 16(4), pages 400-421, November.
    9. Boehmer Charles & Corbetta Renato, 2016. "Hard International Law-Contributing Organizations as Networks," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 22(4), pages 413-426, December.
    10. Kenneth A. Schultz, 2017. "Mapping Interstate Territorial Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(7), pages 1565-1590, August.
    11. Christina Davis, 2015. "The political logic of dispute settlement: Introduction to the special issue," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 107-117, June.
    12. Shawn L. Ramirez, 2018. "Mediation in the shadow of an audience: How third parties use secrecy and agenda-setting to broker settlements," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 30(1), pages 119-146, January.
    13. Florian Justwan & Sarah K. Fisher, 2017. "Generalized Social Trust and International Dispute Settlement," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 717-743, September.
    14. David B. Carter & Paul Poast, 2017. "Why Do States Build Walls? Political Economy, Security, and Border Stability," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(2), pages 239-270, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:105:y:2011:i:02:p:415-436_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.