會訊 Newsletter: 地之緣 · 政與治 Consequences of Geopolitics: 無界 國界 過界 Messed up Borders in the World

在強調和平、理性討論和談判而非軍事衝突解決問題的當今世界，我們有必要認識這些爭端的起源、發展和可能的解決途徑，從而使 世界更美好。 這也是幫助聯合國實現可持續發展目標：促進和平和包容的社會（目標16）的一種方式。 我們香港大學歷史系系會希望透過這本會訊，可以讓我們的會員和您，對看似愚蠢但實則上具有深遠地緣政治意義的衝突有所認識，讓您可以進一步討論解決這些紛爭的其他方案，並培養你對地緣政治的興趣。

In the modern world, there can be many different reasons to why two countries get involved in a conflict. It can be because of cultural differences, or economical reasons etc... but there exists a kind of very special reason, border disputes. When looking at the world map, we always thought that the borders are just some big, thick and black lines that wouldn’t be changed since the foundation of a nation, but this is often not the case. In fact, they are more flexible than you think, some may be changed after a week’s conference; some may drag on for eternities, creating countless issues to both the locals and the international relationship between the two nations.

In the modern world, where we stress on peace and settling problems by the means of discussion and negotiations instead of military conflicts, it is necessary for us to acknowledge the origins, the development and the possible ways to settle these disputes in order to make the world a better place. This is also a way to help the United Nations in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, namely Goal 16 Promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. We, the History Society of the University of Hong Kong, hope that through this newsletter, awareness of conflicts that may look silly at first, but with deep geopolitical meanings can be raised to our members as well as you, allow you to further investigate on alternative ways to compromise both parties in the argument, and to develop your interest in geopolitics.