What drives the dynamics of rivalry? We propose a general explanation of why international rivalries originate, persist, and terminate. We argue that rivalries persist as long as contested issues are present. Rivalries tend to form between actors with spatial or positional disputes. As rivals cease disputing spatial or positional issues, they are less likely to maintain hostility or manifest overt conflict toward each other. Particularly focusing on the role of territorial issues, we test an issue-based explanation of rivalry processes utilizing an extended boundary dispute dataset. The empirical analysis reveals that the effect of territorial disputes is contingent on the type of rivalry. Spatial rivalries, as opposed to positional rivalries, tend to develop when there are boundary disputes. When these spatial disputes are resolved, spatial rivalries tend to end, while positional rivalries and “mixed” (both spatial and positional) rivalries are less affected by the absence of boundary disputes. Rivalries tend to be conflictual, but only as long as the relevant issues persist. Such results show the importance of contested issues driving the rivalry processes.

中文翻译：

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论世界政治中空间和位置竞争的起源、持续和终止：阐述冲突升级的两个问题理论

是什么推动了竞争的动态？我们对国际竞争的产生、持续和终止的原因提出了一般性解释。我们认为，只要有争议的问题存在，竞争就会持续存在。存在空间或位置争议的参与者之间往往会形成竞争。当竞争对手停止争论空间或位置问题时，他们就不太可能保持敌意或对彼此表现出明显的冲突。特别关注领土问题的作用，我们使用扩展的边界争端数据集测试了对竞争过程的基于问题的解释。实证分析表明，领土争端的影响取决于竞争的类型。与位置竞争相反，空间竞争往往在存在边界争端时发展。当这些空间纠纷解决后，空间竞争趋于结束，而位置竞争和“混合”（空间和位置）竞争较少受到边界争端的影响。竞争往往是冲突的，但前提是相关问题持续存在。这样的结果表明了推动竞争过程的有争议的问题的重要性。