¹ Goldstein, Joshua, Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide (2011)Google Scholar.

² See Uppsala Conflict Data Program (2014), at http://ucdp.uu.se (providing data sets on the number of conflicts 1975–2015, number of deaths per conflict 1989–2015, and more).

³ Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined xxi (2011) (“[V]iolence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence.”).

⁴ Gary Goetz is a professor of political science and peace studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame who has previously written about international norms and other causes of peace. Paul F. Diehl is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He directed the Correlates of War Project providing the largest global data collection on international conflict. Alexandru Balas is the Director at the Clark Center for International Education and an Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Cortland.

⁵ Pinker, supra note 3.

⁶ Goldstein, supra note 1.

⁷ Thayer, Bradley A., Humans, Not Angels: Reasons to Doubt the Decline of War Thesis , 15 Int'l Stud. Rev. 405–11 (2013)Google ScholarPubMed.

⁸ See, e.g., S.C. Res. 252 (May 21, 1968) (“Reaffirming that acquisition of territory by military conquest is inadmissible … .”); S.C. Res. 660 (Aug. 2, 1990) (“Alarmed by the invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 by the military forces of Iraq, Determining that there exists a breach of international peace and security … .”); Case Concerning the Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), Judgment, 1986 ICJ Rep. 14 (June 27).

⁹ See Figure 6.1 (p. 127) (The annual number of secession movements greatly increased after World War II. From 1946–2011, there were 1555 movements as compared to 162 and 154, respectively, for the prior periods.).

¹⁰ See Table 7.1, Uti Possidetis in Secessions and Militarized Transfers, 1900–2000 (p. 148). The authors rely on the Cater and Geomans data sets (2011 and 2014).

¹¹ The authors focus on mediation because it is better suited for conflicts involving violence and armed force.

¹² See Table 9.1, Maritime Claims in Relationships Over Time, 1900–2001: Western Europe and Latin America (p. 191); Table 9.2, How Maritime Claims End, By Conflict Management Approach and Over Time, 1946–2001: Western Europe and Latin America (p. 196).

¹³ 1 U.S. Dep't of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Japan: 1931–1941, at 76 (1943).

¹⁴ UN Charter Art. 2.4 (“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”).

¹⁵ Ian Brownlie, International Law and the Use of Force by States 410–18 (1963) (citing Finland's recognition that Article 10 “implies a further obligation” than before).

¹⁶ International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, The Responsibility to Protect 49, para. 6.12 (2001); see also G.A. Res. 60/1, 2005 World Summit Outcome, para. 138 (Sept. 16, 2005) (establishing widespread state support for the principle of R2P); S.C. Res. 1674, para. 4 (Apr. 28, 2006); U.N. Secretary-General, Implementing the Responsibility to Protect, paras. 8–9, U.N. Doc. A/63/677 (Jan. 12, 2009).

¹⁷ See, e.g., Hersch Lauterpacht, Recognition in International Law 413 (1947) (“The meaning of non-recognition is based on two assumptions… . The first is that illegal acts cannot produce legal results beneficial to the wrongdoer.”); Brownlie, supra note 15, at 410–18 (providing a thorough history of the genesis of the principle).

¹⁸ Specifically, the authors claim that there is a norm of state behavior being consistent in its use of uti possidetis and that “all evidence suggests that it has led to a reduction in international militarized conflict” (p. 150).

¹⁹ Uti possidetis (Latin for “as you possess”) “mandates that preexisting administrative boundaries should be used as the new international boundaries” (p. 138).

²⁰ Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions Between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain), Application, 1991 ICJ 8 (July 8) (noting that both nations claimed sovereignty over the Hawar Islands, which were subject to potential oil resources). The nations had previously attempted to resolve the dispute through arbitration and later mediation by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Id. at 10.

²¹ Case Concerning Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions Between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain), Judgment, 2001 ICJ Rep. 40, 85, paras. 147–48 (Mar. 16).

²² Id., Joint Diss. Op. Bedjaoui, J., Ranjeva, J. & Koroma, J. 145, 163, para. 51 (“It is not clear that this ‘Bahraini formula’ (which, as its name suggests, had been proposed by Bahrain) can and must be regarded as an invitation to the Court not to take any account of the principle of uti possidetis juris and thus to submit the British decision of 1939 to whatever examination, criticism, or even sanction that it might merit? Thus, it seems to us that whereas the principle of uti possidetis juris could tie our hands and oblige us purely and simply to confirm the 1939 decision, the Bahraini formula on the contrary fully relieved us of that obligation and invited us freely to examine that decision.”).

²³ Id., Dec. Vereschetin, J. 217, para. 1 (quoting Frontier Dispute (Burk. Fas. v. Mali), Judgment, 1986 ICJ Rep. 554, 566 (Dec. 22)).

²⁴ Id., Sep. Op. Kooijmans, J. 231, para. 21 (citing Burk. Fas. v. Mali, 1986 ICJ Rep. at 565).

²⁵ Id. at 231, para. 20.

²⁶ See, e.g., Hans Kelsen, Peace Through Law (1944); Kewenig, Wilhelm, The Contribution of International Law to Peace Research , 10 J. Peace Res. 227 (1973)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁷ Galtung, Johan, Peace by Peaceful Means: Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization 2 (1996)Google Scholar (explaining the concept of positive peace, a concept that Galtung is credited for introducing); see also John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (1997); Senghass, Dieter, On Perpetual Peace: A Timely Assessment 33–42 (Osers, Ewald trans., 2007)Google Scholar; Richmond, Oliver P., Critical Research Agendas for Peace: The Missing Link in the Study of International Relations , 32 Alternatives: Glob., Loc., Pol. 247 (2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Schmid, Herman, Peace Research and Politics , 3 J. Peace Res. 217 (1968)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Carroll, Berenice A., Peace Research: The Cult of Power, 16 J. Conflict Resol. 585 (1972)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Yanarella, Herbert G. Reid & Ernest J., Toward a Critical Theory of Peace Research in the United States: The Search for an “Intelligible Core,” 13 J. Peace Res. 315 (1976)Google Scholar; Patomäki, Heikki, The Challenge of Critical Theories: Peace Research at the Start of the New Century , 38 J. Peace Res. 723 (2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jutila, Matti, Pehkonen, Samu & Väyrynen, Tarja, Resuscitating a Discipline: An Agenda for Critical Peace Research , 36 Millennium: J. Int'l Stud. 623 (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

²⁸ Promoting Peace Through International Law (Cecilia Marcela Bailliet & Kjetil Mujezinović Larsen eds., 2015); Amann, Diane Marie, International Law and the Future of Peace , 107 ASIL Proc. 111 (2014)Google Scholar; O'Connell, Mary Ellen, Responsibility to Peace: A Critique of R2P , in Critical Perspectives on the Responsibility to Protect: Interrogating Theory and Practice 71, 71 (Philip Cunliffe ed., 2011)Google Scholar; Christine Bell, On the Law of Peace: Peace Agreements and the Lex Pacificatoria (2008) (offering a groundbreaking work on the systematic study of the law pertaining to peace agreements). For critical works, see Charlesworth, Hilary, Are Women Peaceful? Reflections on the Role of Women in Peace-Building , 16 Fem. Leg. Stud. 347, 357 (2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar (challenging ‘‘[t]he idea that women are somehow predisposed to be peaceful and naturally gifted as peace-builders …’’); Zolo, Danilo, Hans Kelsen: International Peace Through International Law , 9 Eur. J. Int'l L. 306, 323 (1998)CrossRefGoogle Scholar (critiquing Kelsen's tenants of international peace).