The Dictionary of Human Geography

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territorial integrity A term in international

lawand, increasingly,critical geopolitics,

that has two main meanings:territorial preser-

vationandterritorial sovereignty. Its meaning of

territorial preservation establishes a right to

the preservation of astate’s existingbound-

aries, and preventssecessionor territorial

conquest by other states. Territorial sover-

eignty or inviolability allows a state to exercise

its power within those boundaries, without

intervention or prohibition from external act-

ors (see Akweenda, 1989). Both senses of the

term are enshrined and protected by key

clauses of Article 2 of the founding Charter

of the United Nations.

While there is an element of necessary fic-

tion in the idea that states are in control of,

and therefore exercisesovereigntyover, their

entireterritory, this has provided a frame-

work within which international law has oper-

ated. The norm of territorial preservation

conditioneddecolonizationinafrica, and

helped to frame the international context of

the break-up of the Soviet Union. Territorial

sovereignty has been held as a guiding prin-

ciple of the international system where, for

actions that do not have an effect beyond its

borders, a state has been held to be sovereign.

This is what the European Union callsinternal

competence. Thus international law is built

around three core principles: sovereign equal-

ity of all states; internal competence for do-

mestic jurisdiction; and territorial preservation

of existing boundaries. What this means is that

any challenge to the ‘monopoly of legitimate

physical violence’ that states are held to have

within their territory is necessarily a challenge

to territorial integrity by infringing on the spa-

tial extent of their sovereignty.

Territorial integrity in the sense of territorial

sovereignty has come under increased pressure

in recent years, with humanitarian intervention

or the ‘responsibility to protect’ civilian popu-

lations legitimating external intervention in in-

ternal jurisdiction. The doctrine of ‘contingent

sovereignty’ promoted by the Bush administra-

tion in the ‘war on terror’ (Elden, 2006: see also

terrorism;war) held that state sovereignty

is dependent on adherence to codes of behav-

iour – notably not harbouring terrorists

or pursuing ‘weapons of mass destruction’ –

and violation of these norms legitimates

pre-emptive action (Elden, 2005, 2007a,c).

Yet at the same time territorial preservation

has been held as a dominant organizing prin-

ciple, with a widespread reluctance to support

independence secession movements or rethink

the boundaries of existing states. se

Suggested reading

Elden (2005); Zacher (2001).

territorial justice The territorialization of

the principles ofsocial justice. This involves

examining the conditions under which wealth

andsocial well-beingare produced, distrib-

uted and consumed (Perrons, 2004). Hence,

social justice can only be giving meaning in the

context of a particular set of social relations.

Using territorial justice to make judgements

over the justness or otherwise of societies is

complicated in three ways: first, there are the

difficulties posed by theecological fallacy;

second, there are issues over the appropriate-

ness of the spatial definition of the territorial

units; and, third, the achievement of territorial

justice has to be set against what this might

mean for other forms of justice (Smith and

Lee, 2004). kwa

Suggested reading

Smith and Lee (2004).

territorial sea A jurisdictional zone of the

ocean, extending a maximum of 12 nautical

miles from the baseline (United Nations,

1983, Article 3) and including air space,

sea bed and subsoil. The territorial sea is

the ocean zone most exposed to human pres-

sure and resource use. The 1982 United

Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

(UNCLOS) extends thesovereigntyof coastal

statesto include the territorial sea. Within the

zone, other nations have few prerogatives be-

yond the right of ‘innocent passage’, which rec-

ognizes the transit right of foreign flag merchant

vessels provided that it is peaceful and not

prejudicial to the good order or security of the

coastal state concerned. sch

Suggested reading

Valega (1992).

territoriality Either the organization and ex-

ercise ofpower, legitimate or otherwise, over

blocs ofspaceor the organization of people

and things into discrete areas through the use

ofboundaries. In studies ofanimalbehav-

iour, spatial division intoterritoriesis seen

as an evolutionary principle, a way of fostering

competition so that those best matched to

their territory will have more surviving off-

spring. With human territoriality, however,

spatial division is more typically thought of as

a strategy used by organizations and groups to

organize social, economic and political activ-

ities. From this viewpoint, space is partitioned

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_T Final Proof page 744 31.3.2009 9:40pm Compositor Name: ARaju

TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY