| Hans Island is a barren uninhabited island measuring 4,230 feet long and 3,934 feet wide located in the Nares Strait between Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Its location places Hans Island within the territorial waters of both Canada and Denmark and both countries claim it as their own territory. On periodic visits to the Island, the militaries of both Canada and Denmark remove the other’s flag and plant their own. |
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The territorial dispute takes on a very civilized nature because, when the Danish Navy removes the Canadian flag to plant their own, they also leave a bottle of Schnapps, a traditional Danish spirt. Not to be outdone, the Canadian Navy, in turn, removes the Danish flag, plants the Canadian flag and leaves a bottle of Canadian Club. Cheers!
Unfortunately, such civilized behavior is not always present in territorial disputes. Territorial disputes are often related to the ownership of natural resources, and can also result from the dynamics of culture, religion, ethnicity and nationalism. Currently there are over 150 disputes worldwide that involve territory issues. Some of the most contentious disputes are in Crimea, the East China Sea, Jammu and Kashmir, the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and West Bank, Western Sahara, and many more.
In Latin America, according to Professor Jorge I. Dominguez: “Since the start of 2,000 five Latin American boundary disputes between neighboring states have resulted in the use of force, and two others in its deployment. These incidents involved ten of the nineteen independent countries in South and Central America. In 1995 Ecuador and Peru went to war, resulting in more than a thousand deaths and injuries and significant economic loss. And yet, by international standards the Americas were comparatively free from interstate war during the twentieth century. Latin Americans for the most part do not fear aggression from their neighbors. They do not expect their countries to go to war with one another.”
However, Latin American countries are quick to involve their military in territorial disputes. Since 1990 Nicaragua has had militarized disputes with four countries. “Venezuela and Honduras have each had militarized disputes with three neighboring states. El Salvador Guatemala Guyana, and Colombia have each militarized disputes with two neighbors…” Yet only the 1995 dispute between Ecuador and Peru escalated to war.
Professor Dominguez advances several arguments to account for the relative infrequency and short duration of interstate wars in Latin America. However, the shared identity of Latin American countries stands out as a major factor in fostering interstate peace in the continent.
But this shared identity is limited. According to a 2011 Pew Research report, a majority (51%) of Latin Americans identify themselves by their family’s country of origin (Mexican, Cuban, etc.) and not by a pan-ethnic label. Only 24% identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino. Also, most Hispanics do not see a shared common culture among U.S. Hispanics. Nearly 69% say Hispanics in the U.S., have many different cultures, while only 29% say Hispanics in the U.S. share a common culture.
Political scientists have advanced the notion that we believe ourselves to be Chilean or Argentinian simply because we believe ourselves to be such. In other words, in this view, a nationality is nothing more than a social construction. A nationality is an “imagined community.”
Interestingly, the level of personal trust is lower among Latin Americans than among the general public in the United Sates. Among the U.S. general public 61% say that “you can’t be too careful when it comes to dealing with people.” Among Latin Americans this distrust metric increases to 86 percent. It also appears that Hispanic political views are more liberal than those of the general U.S. public. Thirty percent of Hispanics describe their political views as liberal or very liberal, compared with 21% of the general public. From personal experience I suspect that Cubans are an exception to this liberal attitude.
Latin Americans may not exchange rum and pisco in a deserted island, but they share an identity and think of their neighbors as adversaries, not as enemies.
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