Alaska-Does Its Oil Save our Nation

A territory is a large extent of land that belongs, or is under the jurisdiction of a certain government. It can also refer to a piece of land that is at a distance from the parent country or from the government itself (www.brainyquote.com, 2008).

The certain places called territory are important to the groups of people that inhabit them due to several reasons. It is because territory means power and its role in securing nationhood, security and prosperity is a key for their survival (City, 2008).

The concept of territory can be linked to ethnic races, nation, and states. Ethnic territories are only available to a certain race of people also known as tribes, and its primary importance to them is for the preservation of their culture and the value of the land that they inherited from their ancestors.

Territories in terms of nation are those that are available for different races of different countries, and its primary importance is for security and in terms of the natural sources that are located within their territory.

 Lastly, territories between states refers to those area within the same country but having different jurisdiction, and its primary importance is for the specific types of rules and regulations being bound their culture, that are being implemented for these certain localities. The competing use of territories can result to different challenges and conflicts. There have been many records of these territorial conflicts and some specific examples will be presented in this paper.

An example of conflict between territories is the conflict between Russians and British. The conflict resulted when Russia proclaimed their ownership of a certain part of the Artic. This caused turmoil because it was Britain to first lodge a territorial claim over Artic in 1908.

This conflict also involved other nations who are preventing other countries for the occupancy of the Artic. The major cause of this conflict is the huge oil and other mineral sources that are believed to be lying beneath the Artic (Stewart, 2007).

Another conflict over territory is the oil drilling issue between America and Alaska. President George W. Bush is promoting the tapping of the Northeast Alaskan Oil in order to support America’s increasing demand for energy supply.

However, a state territorial conflict between America and some inhabitants of Alaska arises arises. This is mainly due to the issue that the oil that can be obtained from Alaskan deposits will not be sufficient enough to pay for the potential environmental damage that can result from oil spills and oil drilling activities (www.govspot.com, 2008).

Lastly, another example of conflict for territory is that of the Chaco War. This war was the result of territorial conflict between Bolivia and Paraguay due to the expansion activities of both parties for them to gain better hold of the Paraguay River, also known as Chaco Boreal.

The route of Paraguay River is thought by the Bolivians to contain large oil deposits and it may be their primary reason for desiring to get a hold of its territory. The net result of this territorial conflict was a cease fire in 1935 and three parts of the region was given to Paraguay as declared by a truce that was signed to end the conflict between Bolivia and Paraguay (Lindsay, n.d).

From the cases of territorial conflicts and challenges presented in this paper, it can be concluded that territorial grabbing is rampant all around the world, and is due mainly to arising interests in resources and land ownership.

Works Cited

City, Jersey. (2008). The Importance of Territory. Retrieved April 12, 2008 from http://nandakumarchandran.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/03/the-importance-of-territory.htm

Lindsay, Ryan. (n.d.). The Chaco War. Retrieved April 14, 2008 from http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/chaco.htm

Stewart, Graham. (2007). A Bitterly Cold War Over a Frozen Territory. Retrieved April 14, 2008 fromhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/graham_stewart/article2195749.ece

www.brainyquote.com. (2008). Territory. Retrieved April 12, 2008 from http://www.brainyquote.com/words/te/territory229138.html

www.govspot.com. (2008). Alaska Oil Drilling. Retrieved April 14, 2008 from http://www.govspot.com/issues/anwr.htm