CONCLUSION
We have argued and presented evidence to show that territory is a key to war and a key to peace. There is considerable evidence that the presence of territorial issues and disputes increase the probability of war and conflict.
No matter what data set or method used, the results always show support for this important finding. What also seems to be clear is that not all territorial issues are equally prone to war. It seems that states rarely go to war over tangible territorial issues and territory disputed solely for economic reasons; rather, they fight when the territory under question is infused with intangible qualities or is tied to ethnic factions.How territorial issues are handled once they arise is a crucial variable. If they are handled in a power politics manner, they are apt to repeat and promote rivalry. The first step to ending territorial disputes might be managing the tactics leaders employ to deal with these issues. This will help set the stage for the stable acceptance of borders as an institution, which can provide significant economic benefits to both sides of the dispute.
Peace seems to lie with the settlement of territorial disputes. Recent research has shown that once territorial disputes are settled, neighbors and neighborhoods can have long periods of peace. Future research should focus on concrete examples of how territorial disputes can be resolved and how those disputes can be defused of their transcendent and symbolic qualities. The task for conflict resolution is to apply its insights and practical wisdom to settling the ongoing territorial disputes that still wrack so much of the world. Such an emphasis is apt to have the highest payoffs.