National and International affairs PU.

National and International affairs PU.

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09/10/2020

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21/09/2020

war on terror:-
War on terrorism that began in 2001 is proved tremendously painful for millions of people across the world especially in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan. War on terrorism is contributing towards growing abuse of human rights. War on terrorism is contributing in loss of human livings, torture, detention, denial of freedom of speech and sexual harassment. It also violates international boundaries of states on name of just saving humans from bloody terrorists. America is violating privacy of different states from many years.

War on terrorism:-
War on terrorism is not a simple kind of war. Because in this case enemy terrorism has no limits, boundaries and it does not respect international laws. So, while tackling with such kind of enemy one should have to take steps carefully. Because if we involve ourselves in this war, then we have to take care of human rights. Terrorists and other human traffickers don’t respect humans and they choose such weak points to get their dangerous aims.

Loss of Human livings:-
But if we study consequences of internationally war on terrorism, then we come to know that it violates human rights on extreme level. According to ‘Browns University’s Watson Institute of International Studies’, due to this war on terror more 350,000 people lost their lives directly and millions of people who are effected due to this war. Due to this war millions of people lost their houses, luggage and children. Millions of people take shelter in their neighbor countries and live their lives under pathetic conditions.

Arbitrary Detention:-
One of alarming truth of this war on terror is arbitrary detentions. World powers like America use arbitrary detentions to hide prisoners in them from rest of the world. Living standards in these jails is worse; prisoners have no access to common necessary daily life things. One such type of jails is in Afghanistan, which are called ‘Black Jails’ and they were remained hide from international world and against Geneva pact. Because these jails are not like for humans livings.

Extraordinary Rendition:-
Another illegality of this war on terror is extraordinary rendition. American agencies like CIA first made black jails to hide terrorists from international laws and then in order to make their propaganda's more secure they shift terrorists from one place to another. So, in order prove themselves innocent they transfer prisoners from one state to another state.

Denial of right of petition:-
Another pathetic fact about this war on terror is that they denied detainee rights to appeal for justice. In this way they are violating their own established laws. When international organizations see about conditions of detainees, then they came to know that most of the detainees are innocent and they are kept under any self –claimed threats.

Repressive laws:-
In order to fulfill their aims, USA and its allies started pressurizing other under developed state to help them in war on terror. USA stressed on this thing to make oppressive laws to tackle with this terror which is actually in minds of USA and its allies. For example ‘Hosni Mubarak’ in Egypt used these oppressive laws by increasing its force strength, banning on freedom of expression. When international organizations asks questions about these laws, then USA hide themselves under veil of war on terror claiming that everything is right in war and love.

Discrimination:-
Another most critical issue in war on terror is discrimination between different sects, races and religions. For example in America black people are considered as terrorist and they are treated in distinguish way than White people. Similarly, due to this war on terror people started negative thinking about Muslims and claiming about every Muslim that he or she is a terrorist or supporting terror. Due to this Muslims in all over the world especially in US can’t live independently and sword of terrorism is linking on their heads.

Invasion of privacy:-
USA is violating privacy of international borders only on the name of war on terror. Although every country is giving data bout suspected people to USA by hiding their names, passport and other identities, which is according to international laws. But America does not trust on its own allies and it stealing data of its ally states and again hide itself behind wall of war on terrorism, which is one of the biggest jokes of 21st century.

Sexual harassment:-
One of the most shameful acts for human beings which USA and its allies are using to interrogate is sexual harassment of both men and women. But international organizations are silent on this harassment of innocent people, because USA always used its veto power to achieve its aims. It is fact that there jails like ‘Guantanamo Bay’ and ‘Abu Gharib Jail’ in Afghanistan, in which personnel of American agency ‘CIA’ uses sexual harassment with girls and women to investigate them.

Loss of Education and Health System:-
War on terror leaves its hazardous impacts on education and health systems in Iraq and Syria. If we see towards history of Iraq and Syria under so called autocrats before American invasion on these states on name of war on terror, then health and education in that time was very good. Along with this situation in Syria and Iraq, if we see condition of Afghanistan although it was not good before American invasion. But situation of Afghanistan is worse than ever in its history.

Loss of livings and Infrastructure in Pakistan:-
Now moving towards situation and loss of human livings in our beloved country Pakistan, then we came to know that as being American ally in this war on terror, we face more loss economically and socially as compare to any other state. Because as being an under developed state with no more any assets like Iraq has mineral oil, but when we involve ourselves in others war on terrors its consequences are before us. Now Pakistan is considered as terrorist state neglecting our services in war on terror.

Pakistan lost more 50,000 livings directly due to war on terror from 2004 onward. Our tribal areas face more losses than other areas of Pakistan, because they are near to Afghanistan border and any change in Afghanistan directly affect our tribal areas. These areas were initially backward, because during British govt. on Hindustan they neglected these tribal areas. Now due to this war on terror, it left many hazardous effects in these areas.

Education and health systems in tribal areas of Pakistan are not present. People of these areas are living in stone ages in this modern world of 21st century. America who is called itself survivor of human’s civilizations and rights should have to look towards pathetic conditions of these people. As Pakistani if we want to win this war on terror, then we should have to ensure these people that they respectable citizens of this country and they are entitled to equal rights as others.

An Alternative Idea:-
Now if ‘War on terror’ is not giving favorable results, then what we have to do. Although it is a good strategy to fight against these terrorists and collect information about them. But if we look inside techniques which USA and its allies usually used to tackle with this terrorism, then we come to know that should have to revise their strategy towards this war on terror. Because only though war they can’t get favorable results. So, they should have to treat with suspects under human rights and international established boundaries. They should have to close black jails like ‘Guantanamo Bay’, stop sexual harassment, invasion of privacy and discrimination among different sects.

Recommendations:-
At the end if international powers especially USA move towards in war on terror humanly and they also take care of effected people, then people of that era will help them and they can get success in their ambitions. Otherwise history will revise itself and its results will be more dangerous than ever.

16/09/2020

Balance of power
: a state or situation in which two countries or groups (such as two political parties) have equal amounts of power
Types of Balance of Power
1. 2. A balance of power is a state of stability between competing forces. In international relations, it refers to equilibrium among countries or alliances to prevent any one entity from becoming too strong and, thus, gaining the ability to enforce its will upon the rest.Balance of Power
2. 3. Real balance of power seldom exists, if war take place it means real balance of power not there. It is not a gift of God but is achieved by the active intervention of man.  The balance of power is subject to constant changes From equilibrium to disequilibrium. Characteristics
3. 4. Example of simple power balancing is Cold War between United States and Soviet Union. In simple balance of power there are two powers/states required to establish a kind of parity between them.  Simple balance of power aims to preservation of safety of the nationalities of the world. Simple balance of power
4. 5. Balance of power between Pakistan and India also has taken shift from simple to complex. Europe in mid eighteenth century represented the situation of complex balance of power.  Balance of power is considered complex if it is concentrates on the preservation of peace due to warring positions of the two militant nations. Complex balance of power
5. 6. The United States, for example, is an actor in all the regional balances of power within the world. Regional balance of power aims to maintaining balance in a particular geographical or political region.  Local balance of power seeks to checkmate only one power or state. Local, Regional balance of power
6. 7. During the two world wars the principle of world balance of power motivated the actions of various states. The balance of power is regarded as worldwide if it concerns more than one region. World wide balance of power
7. 8. The rigid stand taken by USA and USSR as leaders of the two groups which emerged after the second world war, is an example of this type of balance of power. In rigid balance of power two groups of states take a particular stand and are not willing to go back from the decision. Rigid balance of power
8. 9. In flexible balance of power member of states change their alignments and seek fresh alliances due to changed circumstances.Flexible balance of power
9. 10. The balance of power has been a central concept in the theory and practice of international relations for the past five hundred years. It has also playeConclusion d a key role in some of the most important attempts to develop a theory of international politics in the contemporary study of international relations. Balance of Power, theory and policy of international relations that asserts that the most effective check on the power of a state is the power of other states.

What is the importance of balance of power in international relations?
The balance of power theory in international relations suggests that states may secure their survival by preventing any one state from gaining enough military power to dominate all others.

Cold War Balance of Power

The Cold War, so called because there was no actual fighting, is an example of the balance of power theory. It involves the United States, a democratic, capitalist country, facing off against the authoritarian Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, otherwise known as the USSR.
Balance of power in South Asia
South Asia is a very effervescent region in terms of its geopolitical and geostrategic uniqueness on the globe. India and Pakistan are two nuclear states in this region having conflicting and rocky relations. In the backdrop of the negative security externalities originating from US intervention in South Asia, the hypothesis is that China is the only regional actor that has all the inducements and the capabilities to deal with the threats to the regional peace and stability. With India’s ascendance in the global hierarchy and its strengthening ties with the US, China is finding that Pakistan is increasingly important in its bid to fend off the joint Indo-US challenge in the region. Moreover, the dynamics of balance of power are very important in South Asia because whenever the balance of power of the region got disturbed, an India-Pakistan war happened. Being the biggest stakeholder in Asia, China plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of power in the region.
The balance of power is inevitable for the regional security of South Asia as well as international peace and security. Balance of power between Pakistan and India — the two nuclear neighbours and archrivals — may create a milieu of mutual dissuasion. China’s role in maintaining the balance of power in the South Asia is very significant as it is an important stakeholder in the region and has the direct effect on if the region faces any crisis. China’s engagement with Pakistan over decades is evident of its realistic foreign policy approach in catering to its strategic requirements.

BALANCE OF POWER AND ‘REALISM
’ Balance of power thinking is usually conceived of as belonging within a particular tradition of thinking about international relations, that of ‘power polities’ or ‘realism’. Dougherty and Pfaltzgraff (1990:81) have listed what they see as being the four basic tenets of this perspective. 4 THE MEANING OF THE BALANCE OF POWER 1 Nation-states are the key actors in an international system composed of independent sovereign states. 2 Domestic and foreign policy are clearly separated areas of national policy. 3 International politics is a struggle for power in an anarchic international environment. 4 States have different capabilities to achieve goals and defend interests. These four assumptions draw upon a particular interpretation of older traditions. It could be argued that Thucydides, Machiavelli, Hobbes and Rousseau fall within the power politics world-view. A classic statement of this perspective was Hans Morgenthau’s Politics Among Nations (1978). Morgenthau asserted that the world is the result of forces inherent in human nature and that: moral principles can never be fully realised, but must at best be approximated through the ever temporary balancing of interests and the ever precarious settlement of conflicts. This school, then, sees in a system of checks and balances a universal principle for all pluralist societies. It appeals to historic precedent rather than to abstract principles, and aims at the realisation of the lesser evil rather than that of the absolute good

14/09/2020

Power and balance of power
power is the capacity of an individual to influence the actions, beliefs, or conduct (behaviour) of others. The term authority is often used for power that is perceived as legitimate by the social structure. ... The use of power need not involve force or the threat of force .

Is power good or evil?
Power isn't inherently evil, and it isn't inherently bad to seek power. Without power, you can't accomplish anything, good or evil. Even those who want nothing more than to make the world a better place, can't do so without exerting the influence of personal power.

Why do we need power?
Having power is having the freedom to control our lives and our destiny, which above everything else will help us achieve happiness, longevity and health. Having limited power in our lives is stressful because it induces feelings of helplessness.

Types of Power:
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Max Weber (1958) believed that there are three (not one) independent and equally important orders of power as under.
Economic power:
For Marx, economic power is the basis of all power, including political power. It is based upon an objective relationship to the modes of production, a group’s condition in the labour market, and its chances. Economic power refers to the measurement of the ability to control events by virtue of material advantage.
Social power:
It is based upon informal community opinion, family position, honour, prestige and patterns of consumption and lifestyles. Weber placed special emphasis on the importance of social power, which often takes priority over economic interests. Contemporary sociologists have also given importance to social status so much so that they sometimes seem to have underestimated the importance of political power.
Political power:
It is based upon the relationships to the legal structure, party affiliation and extensive bureaucracy. Political power is institutionalized in the form of large-scale government bureaucracies. One of the persistent ideas has been that they are controlled by elites, that is, small, select, privileged groups.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Political power concerns the activities of the states which is not confined to national boundaries. The networks of political power can stretch across countries and across the globe. Political power involves the power to tax and power to distribute resources to the citizens.
there are a few other types also which are as under:
Knowledge power:
To Foucault (1969), power is intimately linked with knowledge. Power and knowledge produce one another. He saw knowledge as a means of ‘keeping tabs’ on people and controlling them.
Military power:
It involves the use of physical coercion. Warfare has always played a major role in politics. Modem mass military systems developed into bureaucratic organiza¬tions and significantly changed the nature of organizing and fighting wars. According to Weber, few groups in society base their power purely on force or military might.
Ideological power:
It involves power over ideas and beliefs, for example, are communism, fascism and some varieties of nationalism. These types of ideologies are frequently oppositional to dominant institutions and play an important role in the organi¬zation of devotees into sects and parties. According to Michael Mann (1986), there are two types of power, viz., distributional and collective.
Distributional power:
It is a power over others. It is the ability of individuals to get others to help them pursue their own goals. It is held by individuals.
Collective power:
It is exercised by social groups. It may be exercised by one social group over another.
Sources of Power:
There are three basic sources of power: force, influence and authority.
These are explained below:
Force:
As defined earlier, force is the actual (physical force) or threatened (latent force) use of coercion to impose one’s will on others. When leaders imprison or even execute political dissidents, they thus apply force. Often, however, sheer force accomplishes little. Although people can be physically restrained, they cannot be made to perform complicated tasks by force alone.
Influence:
It refers to the exercise of power through the process of persuasion. It is the ability to affect the decisions and actions of others. A citizen may change his or her position after listening a stirring speech at a rally by a political leader. This is an example of influence that how the efforts to persuade people can help in changing one’s opinion.
Authority:
It refers to power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised (Schaefer and Lamm, 1992). It is estab¬lished to make decisions and order the actions of others. It is a form of legitimate power. Legitimacy means that those subject to a government’s authority consent to it (Giddens, 1997).
The people give to the ruler the authority to rule, and they obey willingly without the threat of force. We tend to obey the orders of police officer because we accept their right to have power over us in certain situations. Legitimate power is accepted as being rightfully exercised (for example, power of the king). Thus, sociologists distinguish power from authority.
Authority is an agreed-upon legitimate relationship of domination and subjugation. For example, when a decision is made through legitimate, recognized channels of government, the carrying out of that decision falls within the realm of authority. In brief, power is decision-making and authority is the right to make decisions, that is, legit¬imate power.

09/09/2020

What is Westphalian system and 5 warfares .

The Westphalia area of north-western Germany gave its name to the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War, one of the most destructive conflicts in the history of Europe.The war or series of connected wars began in 1618, when the Austrian Habsburgs tried to impose Roman Catholicism on their Protestant subjects in Bohemia. It pitted Protestant against Catholic, the Holy Roman Empire against France, the German princes and princelings against the emperor and each other, and France against the Habsburgs of Spain. The Swedes, the Danes, the Poles, the Russians, the Dutch and the Swiss were all dragged in or dived in. Commercial interests and rivalries played a part, as did religion and power politics.these war ended on a treaty in 1648, the Westphalia treaty.this treaty gives a state rights to defend herself using force .
The states have been using force in different set of manpower, technology ,techniques and innovations .these are war fares,
The concept of four "generations" in the history of modern warfare was created by a team of United States analysts, including William S. Lind for the purpose of an argument for "the changing face of war" entering into a "fourth generation".
• First-generation warfare refers to Ancient and Post-classical battles fought with massed manpower, using phalanx, line and column tactics with uniformed soldiers governed by the state.
• Second-generation warfare is the Early modern tactics used after the invention of the rifled musket and breech-loading weapons and continuing through the development of the machine gun and indirect fire. The term second generation warfare was created by the U.S. military in 1989.
• Third-generation warfare focuses on using Late modern technology-derived tactics of leveraging speed, stealth and surprise to bypass the enemy's lines and collapse their forces from the rear. Essentially, this was the end of linear warfare on a tactical level, with units seeking not simply to meet each other face to face but to outmaneuver each other to gain the greatest advantage.
• Fourth-generation warfare as presented by Lind et al. is characterized by a "post-modern" return to decentralized forms of warfare, blurring of the lines between war and , combatants and civilians due to nation states' loss of their near-monopoly on combat forces, returning to modes of conflict common in pre-modern times.
Fourth generation warfare is defined as conflicts which involve the following elements:
• Are complex and long term
• Terrorism (tactic)
• A non-national or transnational base – highly decentralized
• A direct attack on the enemy's core ideals
• Highly sophisticated psychological warfare, especially through media manipulation and law fare
• All available pressures are used – political, economic, social and military
• Occurs in low intensity conflict, involving actors from all networks
• Non-combatants are tactical dilemmas
• Lack of hierarchy
• Small in size, spread out network of communication and financial support
• Use of insurgency and guerrilla tactics.

Fifth-generation warfare (5GW) is the battle of perceptions and information. 5GW is also a cultural and moral war, which distorts the perception of the masses to give a manipulated view of the world and politics. The Five generations of warfare can be labeled as: 1GW: War of Line and Column.
Hybrid Warfare is a military strategy that employs political warfare and composites conventional warfare, irregular warfare and cyber warfare with other influencing methods such as fake news, diplomacy, and electoral intervention.
Hybrid warfare is a new challenge that Pakistan is facing and is linked with the exploitation of identity issues especially in tribal areas which were recently merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province. Hybrid Warfare can be defined as externally provoked identity conflicts, which exploit historical, ethnic, religious, socio-economic and geographic difference within geostrategic transit states through the phased transition from color revolutions to unconventional warfare to disrupt, control, or influence multipolar transnational connective infrastructure projects by the means of regime tweaking, regime change or regime reboot. Such wars are supported by external powers to fuel identity conflicts such as Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, provoking Baluchistan insurgency or terrorism in whole Pakistan.

06/09/2020

HUMAN RIGHTS
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages.

What do you mean by human rights?
Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death. ... These basic rights are based on shared values like dignity, fairness, equality, respect and independence. These values are defined and protected by law

According to International Bill of Rights here are basic human rights
• The right to equality and freedom from discrimination.
• The right to life, liberty, and personal security.
• Freedom from torture and degrading treatment.
• The right to equality before the law.
• The right to a fair trial.
• The right to privacy.
• Freedom of belief and religion.
• Freedom of opinion.

What is difference between right and human rights?

Human rights arise simply by being a human being. Civil rights, on the other hand, arise only by virtue of a legal grant of that right, such as the rights imparted on Pakistani citizens by the Constitution of Pakistan.

What happens without human rights?

There would be no free speech, no freedom of any sort. Everything would be controlled and censored. Assuming no nukes existed, war would happen quite often. Bigger countries would be pillaging and invading smaller countries like they have in real life, and they'd do it with even more brutality

Who has the responsibility to protect human rights?

The Human Rights Council, established in 2006, replaced the 60-year-old UN Commission on Human Rights as the key independent UN intergovernmental body responsible for human rights.

How do states protect human rights?

States have the obligation to publish and make available legislation and other instruments relating to human rights so that everyone can know and exercise their fundamental rights. Those institutions may be ombudsman, human rights commission or any other type of national institution.

What are some examples of human rights violations?

Forcibly evicting people from their homes (the right to adequate housing) Contaminating water, for example, with waste from State-owned facilities (the right to health) Failure to ensure a minimum wage sufficient for a decent living (rights at work)

What happens when a country violates human rights?

A state breaks one of those rules, the matter will be brought before the UN security council. The major powers will then decide if sanctions, or military action as a last resort, should be made against the violating state. The permanent members have a veto, and they cannot do much to punish each other.

02/09/2020

What is the international law?
International law is the set of rules, agreements and treaties that are binding between countries. When sovereign states enter into agreements that are binding and enforceable, it's called international law. ... International laws promote peace, justice, common interests and trade. International laws apply to governments.

Law of the Sea is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of states in maritime environments.[1] It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters jurisdiction.
While drawn from a number of international customs, treaties, and agreements, modern law of the sea derives largely from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), effective since 1994, which is generally accepted as a codification of customary international law of the sea, and is sometimes regarded as the "constitution of the oceans

United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS)

The United Nations has long been at the forefront of efforts to ensure the peaceful, cooperative, legally defined uses of the seas and oceans for the individual and common benefit of humankind. Urgent calls for an effective international regime over the seabed and the ocean floor beyond a clearly defined national jurisdiction set in motion a process that spanned 15 years and saw the creation of the United Nations Seabed Committee, the signing of a treaty banning nuclear weapons on the seabed, the adoption of the declaration by the General Assembly that all resources of the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction are the common heritage of mankind and the convening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
The UN’s groundbreaking work in adopting the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention stands as a defining moment in the extension of international law to the vast, shared water resources of our planet. The convention has resolved a number of important issues related to ocean usage and sovereignity, such as:
• Established freedom-of-navigation rights
• Set territorial sea boundaries 12 miles offshore
• Set exclusive economic zones up to 200 miles offshore
• Set rules for extending continental shelf rights up to 350 miles offshore
• Created the International Seabed Authority
• Created other conflict-resolution mechanisms (e.g., the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf)
Baseline
Normally, the baseline from which the territorial sea is measured is the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts officially recognized by the coastal state. This is either the low-water mark closest to the shore, or alternatively it may be an unlimited distance from permanently exposed land, provided that some portion of elevations exposed at low tide but covered at high tide (like mud flats) is within 3 nautical miles or 3.45 statute miles (5.5 km) permanently exposed land. Straight baselines can alternatively be defined connecting fringing islands along a coast, across the mouths of rivers, or with certain restrictions across the mouths of bays. In this case, a bay is defined as "a well-marked indentation whose pe*******on is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as to contain land-locked waters and constitute more than a mere curvature of the coast. An indentation shall not, however, be regarded as a bay unless its area is as large as, or larger than, that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation". The baseline across the bay must also be no more than 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) in length.
Internal waters

Waters landward of the baseline are defined as internal waters, over which the state has complete sovereignty: not even innocent passage is allowed without explicit permission from said state. Lakes and rivers are considered internal waters. All "archipelagic waters" within the outermost islands of an archipelagic state such as Indonesia or the Philippines are also considered internal waters, and are treated the same with the exception that innocent passage through them must be allowed. However, archipelagic states may designate certain sea lanes through these waters.
Territorial sea
Territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,[1] is a belt of coastal waters extending at most[12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state, although foreign ships (military and civilian) are allowed innocent passage through it, or transit passage for straits; this sovereignty also extends to the airspace over and seabed below. Adjustment of these boundaries is called, in international law, maritime delimitation.
A state's territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from its baseline. If this would overlap with another state's territorial sea, the border is taken as the median point between the states' baselines, unless the states in question agree otherwise. A state can also choose to claim a smaller territorial sea.
Conflicts have occurred whenever a coastal nation claims an entire gulf as its territorial waters while other nations only recognize the more restrictive definitions of the UN convention. Claims which draw baseline in excess of 24 nautical miles (two 12 NM limits) are judged excessive by the U.S. Two conflicts occurred in the Gulf of Sidra where Libya drew a line in excess of 230 NM and claimed the entire enclosed gulf as its territorial waters. The U.S. exercised freedom of navigation rights twice, in the 1981 and 1989 Gulf of Sidra incidents.
In the U.S. federal system, individual states exercise ownership (subject to federal law) up to 3 nautical miles (9 nautical miles for Texas and Florida) from shore, while the federal government exercises sole territorial jurisdiction further out (see Tidelands).
Contiguous zone
The contiguous zone is a band of water extending farther from the outer edge of the territorial sea to up to 24 nautical miles (44.4 km; 27.6 mi) from the baseline, within which a state can exert limited control for the purpose of preventing or punishing "infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations within its territory or territorial sea". This will typically be 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) wide, but could be more (if a state has chosen to claim a territorial sea of less than 12 nautical miles), or less, if it would otherwise overlap another state's contiguous zone. However, unlike the territorial sea, there is no standard rule for resolving such conflicts and the states in question must negotiate their own compromise. The United States invoked a contiguous zone out to 24 nmi from the baseline on 29 September 1999.[2]
Exclusive economic zone
An exclusive economic zone extends from the baseline to a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km; 230.2 mi), thus it includes the contiguous zone.[3] A coastal nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources. However, it cannot prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or under the surface of the sea that is in compliance with the laws and regulations adopted by the coastal State in accordance with the provisions of the UN Convention, within that portion of its exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea. Before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, coastal nations arbitrarily extended their territorial waters in an effort to control activities which are now regulated by the exclusive economic zone, such as offshore oil exploration or fishing rights (see Cod Wars). Indeed, the exclusive economic zone is still popularly, though erroneously, called a coastal nation's territorial waters.
Continental shelf
Article 76[4] gives the legal definition of continental shelf of coastal countries. For the physical geography definition, see the article continental shelf.
The continental shelf of a coastal nation extends out to the outer edge of the continental margin but at least 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) from the baselines of the territorial sea if the continental margin does not stretch that far. Coastal states have the right of exploration and exploitation of the seabed and the natural resources that lie on or beneath it, however other states may lay cables and pipelines if they are authorised by the coastal state. The outer limit of a country's continental shelf shall not stretch beyond 350 nautical miles (650 km; 400 mi) of the baseline, or beyond 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) from the 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) isobath, which is a line connecting the depths of the seabed at 2,500 meters.
The outer edge of the continental margin for the purposes of this article is defined as:
*a series of lines joining points not more than 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) apart where the thickness of sedimentary rocks is at least 1% of the height of the continental shelf above the foot of the continental slope; or
*a series of lines joining points not more than 60 nautical miles apart that is not more than 60 nautical miles from the foot of the continental margin.
The foot of the continental slope is determined as the point of maximum change in the gradient at its base.
The portion of the continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical mile limit is also known as the extended continental shelf. Countries wishing to delimit their outer continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles have to submit scientific information for the basis of their claim to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Commission then validates or makes recommendations on the scientific basis for the extended continental shelf claim. The scientific judgement of the Commission shall be final and binding. Validated extended continental shelf claims overlapping any demarcation between two or more parties are decided by bilateral or multilateral negotiation, not by the Commission.
Countries have ten years after ratifying UNCLOS to lodge their submissions to extend their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, or by 13 May 2009 for countries where the convention was ratified before 13 May 1999. As of 1 June 2009, 51 submissions have been lodged with the Commission, of which eight have been deliberated by the Commission and have had recommendations issued. The eight are (in the order of date of submission): Russian Federation; Brazil; Australia; Ireland; New Zealand; the joint submission by France, Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom; Norway and Mexico.
For full list, see below
Rights over the continental shelf
Articles 77 to 81 define the rights of a country over its continental shelf.
A coastal nation has control of all resources on or under its continental shelf, living or not, but no control over any living organisms above the shelf that are beyond its exclusive economic zone. This gives it the right to conduct hydrocarbon exploration and drilling works.

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