The notion of dispute refers to the act and consequence of disputing . This verb , in turn, refers to having a discussion , a fight or a confrontation . For example: "The dispute in the bar ended with shots fired" , "The Mexican team also intends to enter the dispute over the Uruguayan striker" , "The maintenance of the nature reserve caused a dispute between the national government and the provincial authorities" .
Disputes are battles or struggles that are carried out to impose a position or to achieve a goal. It may be a verbal duel or a confrontation that includes the use of violence or force .
In the field of sport , dispute is associated with competition . Two teams that meet in the final of a tournament are fighting for the title in question, to name one possibility. Two basketball players, on the other hand, can compete for the ball in the middle of the game.
Territorial disputes are conflicts between two or more States for control of an area. The Kashmir territorial dispute , in this framework, pits Pakistan , India and China against each other over the administration of this region. There are also boundary disputes , focused specifically on the determination of a border. The United States and Canada maintained a dispute of this type over Alaska until, in 1903 , arbitration was held that allowed the litigation to be terminated.
In other words, a territorial dispute is a disagreement about the ownership of a territory or some portion of it. In more specific terms, it can refer to different types of territorial entities, such as States or regions (these are territorial subdivisions of the former), whose delimitation can generate conflict .
Modern society's focus on economically-based power relations has reduced the importance that this type of dispute had in the past, although this does not mean that it has disappeared. If we look at the conflict over the territories between Israel and Palestine , whose origins date back to 1967 , it is enough to understand that the issues of borders and status continue to enjoy a significant relevance.
Something that we could despise or regret are the consequences that territorial disputes entail, especially wars . In many cases, confrontations do not arise exclusively because of these issues, but are taken as another reason to unleash violence between two or more parties. On the European continent we have seen more than one example of this type of battle throughout history, generally due to the desire of certain States to expand their territories as much as possible.
The dimensions of a territory are not sought for reasons of comfort or lack of square kilometers to house the inhabitants of a nation, but to achieve a position of power over others: the larger the surface area, the more possibilities of imposing and dominating the people. rivals . And here natural resources and miners also come into play.
In short, the degree of conflict that can arise as a result of a territorial dispute ranges from the refusal by one State to draw the border as demanded by the other, to war itself. It should be noted that the UN considers it inadmissible for a territory to be acquired through war , which is why States should always resort to peaceful means to resolve their differences .
Patent disputes , finally, are altercations linked to the invention and registration of a product . In the 19th century , Antonio Meucci and Alexander Graham Bell had such a dispute over the creation of the telephone.