Capstone: Why Do We Fight Over Territory? Foreign Policy as a Boundary-Making Technology

In a globalized world where capital and labor move across national boundaries with increasing ease, territory is supposed to matter less and less. Asia, however, seems to be an exception to that trend. The Asian region is plagued by inter-state territorial disputes, from Japan to Afghanistan, most dating back to the colonial period and the early 20th century. Some of these disputes could even lead to inter-state war. Why are Asian territorial disputes so protracted and difficult to resolve? The answer lies in the desire to seek the perfect fusion of nation and state in postcolonial Asia. Foreign policy as a universal boundary-making exercise finds itself unable to draw a line between ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘home’ and ‘abroad’, due to, among other things, the presence of overseas diasporas and ‘foreign’ communities living within domestic space. This lecture will focus on the various histories that led to the formation of de-territorialized nations set against states that treat territorial loss as a loss of state power and legitimacy.