What precedents exist for resolving long-standing territorial conflicts?

Several precedents exist for resolving long-standing territorial conflicts, including diplomatic negotiations, arbitration, and international court rulings.

Diplomatic negotiations have often been used to resolve territorial disputes. For instance, the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, negotiated by the Pope, divided newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal along a meridian. More recently, the Camp David Accords in 1978 led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, with Israel agreeing to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967.

Arbitration is another method used to resolve territorial disputes. In this process, an impartial third party is chosen to make a binding decision. An example of this is the Beagle Channel dispute between Argentina and Chile. In 1977, the two countries agreed to submit their dispute over the channel to binding arbitration by a tribunal in Britain. The tribunal's decision in 1980, which largely favoured Chile, was initially rejected by Argentina, but was eventually accepted in 1984 following mediation by the Vatican.

International court rulings have also been used to settle territorial disputes. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has jurisdiction to settle legal disputes between states. For example, in 2002, the ICJ ruled on a territorial dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over the Bakassi Peninsula, awarding sovereignty to Cameroon. Both countries accepted the ruling and Nigeria subsequently withdrew its troops.

In some cases, referendums have been used to determine the will of the people in disputed territories. A notable example is the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, where the people of Scotland voted on whether Scotland should become an independent country or remain part of the United Kingdom. The majority voted against independence, thus resolving the issue for the time being.

These precedents show that peaceful resolution of territorial disputes is possible through various means. However, the success of these methods depends on the willingness of the parties involved to engage in good faith negotiations and to abide by the decisions made.