Good Fences, Bad Neighbors : Border Fixity and International Conflict

310 Pages·2011·2.152 MB·English

by  Boaz Atzili

Good Fences, Bad Neighbors

Good Fences,
Bad Neighbors
Border Fixity and
International Conflict
Boaz Atzili
The University of Chicago Press Chicago & London
Boaz Atzili is assistant professor in the
School of International Service at American University.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2012 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2012.
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-03135-4 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-03136-1 (paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-03135-7 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-03136-5 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Atzili, Boaz.
Good fences, bad neighbors : border fi xity and international confl ict / Boaz Atzili.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-03135-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-03136-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-03135-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-03136-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Boundaries—Political aspects.
2. Nation-building.
I. Title.
jc323.a75 2012
320.1'dc23
2011028475
o This paper meets the requirements of ANSI / NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
For Tomer, Carmel, and Orit, with love

C o n t e n t s
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1 ∙ The Theory and Practice of Borders 10
2 ∙ Which Wars Make the State and Which States Make War 31
3 ∙ Preconditions to State Building: Making the Case for Comparison 57
4 ∙ State Building and State Weakness before Border Fixity:
Brandenburg-Prussia, Argentina, and Poland-Lithuania 73
5 ∙ State Building and State Failure in a Fixed-Borders World:
Lebanon, Congo, and Israel 118
6 ∙ State Weakness and International Confl ict in a Fixed-Borders World 163
7 ∙ Conclusions 194
Notes 223
Bibliography 263
Index 281

F i g u r e s
1 Conquests and annexations of homeland territory per state, 1815–2000 25
2 Conquests and annexations of homeland territory per contiguous dyad,
1820–2000 26
3 A world of fl exible borders: Eff ects on weak states 37
4 Eff ects of border fi xity on weak states 45
5 Border fi xity and state building as a continuum 210