ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that territory is also a key significant fact within international relations for understanding and explaining both war and peace. The insight that territory is a significant fact is based on the territorial explanation of war first presented in Vasquez as part of the larger steps-to-war explanation. Since 1993, that explanation has been extensively tested. Some of the case studies on civil war and territory also provide a separate evidentiary base of support for the proposition that territorial disputes are war prone. Some of the work on internal wars also sees ethnicity tied to territory as especially war prone. Toft makes an important original contribution by showing that ethnic conflict and war are most apt to emerge when the ethnic group is concentrated in a specific geographical region. Territory tells us where long-term peace is possible and what needs to be done to build it.
