National Boundaries of the Future

Japan's claims on the Kuril Islands north of Hokkaido present it with problems in terms of national boundary designation. Norway and Russia are also faced with similar issues. Unresolved land disputes and territorial water issues are unlikely to be resolved under the conventional concept of national boundary designation. Therefore, isn't it time for the idealistic shift towards the joint management of territory, irrespective of boundaries, and the creation of a new cultural sphere?

I am just a mere geologist, ignorant of many of the world's politics. However, on reading about the joint resolution of Japanese and Russian scientists on environmental research for the Kuril Islands in the 17th edition of this newsletter, I would like to share with you my thoughts after having worked together with Russian researchers for nearly 30 years.
While environmental pollution sweeps over man-made boundaries and spreads through out the world without any problems, researchers are always hindered by nationalities and borders, and have a rough time obtaining visas and work permits. Where I live in Norway, the issues surrounding the boundary lines of territorial waters and exclusive economic zones in the Arctic Circle, and in particular the Barents Sea, are the cause of continuing unresolved disputes with Russia, which are indeed very similar to Japan's problems in the Kuril Islands. However, despite the obstacles posed by national boundaries, joint scientific investigations by Norway and Russia into the development of deep-sea oil and natural gas reserves and fishing resources, the chemical pollution from Kol'skiy Peninsula, the potential radioactive pollution created by the nuclear testing site on Novaya Zemlya and the several nuclear powered engines dumped around the islands, are making progress at a significant rate.

line method applied by Norway and the sector line method applied by Russia have lead to conflict in the boundaries of the countries territorial seas and exclusive economic zones. Agreement has yet to be reached. The Barents Sea is not only blessed with many deep-sea resources, but is also a gold mine for cod, prawns and other seafood delicacies. Source: Based on Ostisty & Cheredeev, 1993 and Dore, 1995.

I am fully aware that Japan's claims on the Kuril Islands are based on the fervent wishes of the Japanese people, but I dream of a different future for countries and their borders. Present national borders signify the boundaries of a state's political, economic and military power. However, I think the people of the new millennium will rise above the present system, dissolving these kinds of states in exchange for cultural spheres, which will be nations built on the history and natural features of particular areas (Nf: S. P. Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order", 1996). This kind of political change will no doubt take several hundred years, but I am convinced that we are unconsciously proceeding towards it even now. For example, under the "Svalbard Treaty" that came into effect in 1925, while Norway was legally granted absolute and unlimited sovereignty over the Svalbard Archipelago, a new territorial concept was implemented when the other signatory countries of the treaty were provided with equal rights to share in the economic activities of the islands. Furthermore, at the opposite pole in Antarctica, all territorial rights are frozen and activities such as scientific environmental research and tourism can only be undertaken with the joint agreement of all countries.
If we think of the unresolved territorial issues of Russia and Japan or Norway in light of this possibility for the future, we could forget trying to resolve the issues by conventional border designation, and take advantage of the unresolved issues by turning the areas into a joint management spheres, run by the countries involved. Through such revolutionary management, such areas could be used to study and learn new methods of joint utilization, leading eventually to the joint operation of many countries borders, the mixing of civilization and the furthered expansion of joint management spheres until the shape of historical countries are formed. Consequently, conventional "states" would cease to exist and new "nations" based on the ethnic culture of the regions would evolve. I believe this is perhaps one positive approach that can be taken towards such unresolved issues.
I believe that if human society doesn't have the intellect and wisdom to end its disunion in the new millennium that we have just entered, then it will certainly signal the future extinction of mankind. This may well be an article far fetched from reality, but for yours truly, someone who studies earth history and the change in living beings over a span of 3 billion years, the existing conflicts between human beings are nothing more than a collection of pathetic and pitiful short term squabbles. In one particular collection of Japanese Haiiku poems there exists a prose by Nobuko Inoue that reads (in translation) "Flowers that bloom on borders spread their seeds in ignorance of man-made boundaries". We too need to accumulate wisdom from the small blooming examples that lay before us.