Enclave - what does this concept mean? The word comes from the Latin "inclavo", which translates as "lock with a key." Apply this term to the territory or to a part of any state, which is characterized by the following features:
- has no access to the sea;
- is completely surrounded by the land territory of another country or several.
Political affiliation
Enclave - what is this territory? It is an integral part of the state to which it belongs. Sometimes such a territory has a partial access to the sea. Then it is called a semi-enclave or coastal enclave.
The presence of a separate part of the territory of the country implies some related international legal relations. For example, to get to the area that is an enclave, you must pass through the territory of another state. In addition, vital problems may arise in such a region that must be resolved for its normal existence. All arising issues, as a rule, are resolved when signing agreements between the countries concerned.
Varieties
What is an enclave? The definition of this concept has already been given. Simply put, this is a piece of one country, which is located inside another. However, there are cases when another separate islet exists on any isolated territory. Such a formation is called a second-order enclave. In such a situation, in order to get to the part of the territory of the country that is inside, it will be necessary to cross two borders.
There is another similar concept - exclave. It refers to an sovereign region, which is separated from the main territory of the state and surrounded by other countries. At the same time, the semi-exclave has access to the sea.
One and the same separated region can be called differently. For the country to which it belongs, it will be an exclave. Other states consider it an enclave. The same terminology exists for semi-enclaves and semi-exclaves.
Examples
There are a fairly large number of territories and settlements, about which we can say that this is an enclave. An example of this is the Sankovo-Medvezhye located in Belarus on the territory of the Gomel region. Administratively, it refers to the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation. Sankovo-Medvezhye is an exclave for Russia, and an enclave for Belarus.
Another example is Alaska. This territory is considered the half-exclave of the United States and the semi-enclave of Canada. Melilla and Ceuta have access to the Mediterranean Sea. These are semi-enclaves for Morocco and semi-enclaves for Spain. At the cape of Lake Pskov is the village of Dubki. It is separated from Russia by Estonian territory. Therefore, it is a semi-exclave from the point of view of Russia and a semi-enclave from Estonia.
Enclave countries
The term indicating the isolation of the territory can be applied not only to the part separated from the main state. This concept is used in a slightly different interpretation. In world practice, there are enclave states. For them, the term "exclave" is not used.
An enclave state - what is it? These are countries whose territory is completely surrounded by another one country. Moreover, they have no access to the sea. There are three such states in the world. Their list includes San Marino and the Vatican. These countries are located in Italy. The third enclave state is Lesotho. It is located in South Africa. The Order of Malta is also endowed with some signs of statehood. He owns the territory inside Italy.
Semi-enclave states are also found in world practice. They have access to the sea. An example is Brunei. This country is surrounded by Malaysia and the South China Sea. Another semi-enclave state is Portugal. It is surrounded by Spain and has access to the Atlantic Ocean.
A certain part of the fort of Sant'Angelo, which is located in Malta and belongs to the Order of Malta, is considered to be a semi-enclave.
Settlements
What is an enclave? The definition given above refers to this concept not only of the state. It concerns the territory of settlements. Thus, the German enclave city of Buzingen am Rhein is completely surrounded by Swiss territory. Its population is almost one and a half thousand people. Only a strip of land, the width of which is less than one kilometer, separates the city from Germany. Moreover, on the narrowest part of this lintel, there is a Swiss village called Dorflingen. In 1918, a referendum was held in Busingen. On it, ninety-six percent of residents voted to join Switzerland. However, this did not happen. Switzerland was not able to offer Germany anything in return.
There is a city-enclave in Ukraine. This is Slavutich. This settlement and the adjacent territory administratively belong to the Kiev region. However, on all sides it is surrounded by lands subordinate to the Chernihiv authorities.
Administratively, Moscow includes the city of Zelenograd. However, its territory is separated from the capital. Surrounds Zelenograd Moscow region.
Enclave Life
Why do the sovereign territories of one state arise on the territory of another? Enclave - what is it? Anomaly? After all, this is a region that can only be reached by crossing another state. However, it is inconvenient for the functioning of the economy and administrative management. In addition, the very existence of the enclave contradicts the idea of the continuity of the nation-state. It would seem that any country would be just happy to get rid of the territory divided with it. However, in practice this does not happen. The zones of many enclaves are very resistant even to the threat of war, changes in economic systems or borders. In addition, the enclaves of the world are increasing. A large number of such territories appeared after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost twenty new enclaves arose during that period in Asia and Europe.
From the point of view of the economic sphere, enclaves are divorced from the parent states. In such unusual conditions, one of them succeeds in flourishing, while others fall into decay. For example, Hong Kong. By the time of transition under the sovereignty of China, it had become a vivid example of world globalization and free trade.
On the basis of developed trade and tourism, small enclaves located in Western Europe thrive. Among them are Belgian Baarle-Hertog, Austrian Jungholz and Italian Campione. The same success was achieved by American Point Roberts. However, there are other examples.
Almost two hundred Indo-Bangladeshi enclave territories suffer from poverty and lack electricity. Separate territories in the Ferghana Valley, despite the presence of fertile lands and magnificent landscapes, are developing much worse than their neighbors. In the intermediate position are the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, as well as the Spanish Melilla and Ceuta. For their economic well-being, they are endowed with federal subsidies and benefits.
Sea territories
Russia owns an enclave in the Sea of Okhotsk. This is an area of fifty-two thousand square kilometers, recognized by the UN as part of the continental shelf of the Russian Federation.
This enclave is located in the very center of the Sea of Okhotsk. Previously, the entire impressive territory was considered an open sea. Here, ships of all the states of the world could freely fish and move. In November 2013, Russia proved its rights to the water area, the area of which is larger than the territory of Belgium, Switzerland and Holland. At the moment, this enclave is the inland sea of the Russian Federation. On its territory, the requirements of Russia for fishing, environmental protection, safety, etc. must be met.
The concept of ethnic enclaves
There are certain territories on which one people compactly resides, surrounded by territory inhabited by another people. Such places are ethnic enclaves. These areas are generally considered sources of tension. For example, the Somali ethnic enclave in Ethiopia.
Reasons for the appearance
Ethnic enclaves arise for a variety of reasons. Such formations are the result of the following processes:
- migration of entire ethnic communities;
- the desire for a compact settlement of an ethnic group in an environment alien to it;
- Forced territorial concentration of a particular nationality.
Science city
In the Moscow region there is a kind of enclave - Dubna, a city in whose territory a special economic zone of a technology-innovative type has been created. This status is assigned to this settlement in the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, which was signed on December 21, 2005.
Within the boundaries of the site of this zone, a preferential treatment is applied for taxation in the field of technical and innovative activities.
The history of the city of Dubna, located on both banks of the great Volga, began in 1956. This settlement is located near Moscow, one hundred and twenty kilometers to the north, near the border with the Tver region. The city is connected to the capital by the Dmitrov highway, waterway and railway. One hundred kilometers from Dubna is the Sheremetyevo Airport.
The city is world famous as a major scientific center. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research is located in Dubna. This is an intergovernmental international research organization, which cooperates with almost 200 world scientific centers. Scientists working at JINR have made about forty different discoveries in the field of nuclear physics in the history of the institute.
The city has great scientific and production potential. In its institutions there is a modern laboratory testing and scientific base, high-tech production facilities, which are serviced by a highly qualified staff. Dubna provides the priority of the Russian Federation in the field of applied and fundamental science, security, defense, instrumentation, nuclear energy, communications and medical equipment.