Maritime disputes and lateral demarcation of the Republic of Croatia

Unatoč globalizaciji, koja briše granice i svijet pretvara u globalno selo, granice su i dalje važne i značajne. Svakoj državi je u cilju štititi granice svog teritorija, a time i svoju suverenost i autonomiju. Stoga, globalizacija nije uzrokovala gubitak važnosti granica već upravo suprotno. Zbog relevantnosti granica, države se nalaze u međusobnim sporovima glede razgraničenja, i kopnenog i morskog. U radu se nastoje prikazati otvorena granična pitanja Republike Hrvatske, s naglaskom na maritimne sporove i bočna razgraničenja. Najviše se polemizira glede hrvatsko- slovenskog spora u području Piranskog zaljeva, jer se stavovi strana u potpunosti razlikuju, narušavaju bilateralne odnose i time povećavaju razinu konfliktnosti. Nasuprot tome, nalaze se sporovi sa Bosnom i Hercegovinom te Crnom Gorom. Između ovih zemalja sukobi nisu eskalirali, te se svojevrsna suradnja ipak ostvaruje. Kopnene granice Republike Hrvatske u najvećoj mjeri su prirodne i prate tok određene rijeke. Morske granice se, s druge strane, teže mogu povući, odrediti, demarkirati. Samim time najveći izazov u razgraničenju jesu maritimni sporovi. Ciljevi ovog rada su definiranje granice i globalizacije, prikaz hrvatske granice sa susjednim zemljama, definicija Prava mora, teritorijalnog mora i prikaz važnosti Konvencije UN-a o pravu mora. Posljednji cilj je definicija spora i načini njihova rješavanja te na konkretnim primjerima prikaz maritimnih sporova Republike Hrvatske. U radu je dokazana glavna pretpostavka kako maritimni sporovi Republike Hrvatske predstavljaju najveći izazov u razgraničenju.Despite globalization, which erases boundaries and turns the world into a global village, borders are still important and significant. Every country has the purpose to protect their territory, and there with its sovereignty and autonomy. Therefore, globalization has not caused the loss of important boundaries but the opposite. Because of the relevance of borders, states are in mutual disputes regarding the demarcation of the land as well as the sea. This work attempts to show the outstanding border issues of Croatia, with the emphasis upon maritime disputes and lateral demarcation. Most polemics are happening regarding the Croatian-Slovenian dispute in the Piran Bay area, by reason of the completely different attitude of the parties, damaging bilateral relations and thereby increasing the level of conflict. In contrast, there are disputes with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Between these countries conflicts didn´t escalate, and though the individual cooperation is achieving. The Croatian land borders are mostly natural and follow the progress of a particular river. Sea borders, on the other hand, are difficult to withdraw, determine, demarcate. Therefore the greatest challenges in delimitation are the maritime disputes. The objectives of this work are to define borders and globalization, depiction of Croatian borders with neighbouring countries, the definition of the Law of the Sea, the territorial sea and the depiction of the importance of the UN Convention about the Law of the Sea. The last object is the definition of the conflict and its resolution as well as the depiction on concrete examples of maritime disputes of the Croatian Republic. This work has proved the main assumption that the maritime disputes of the Croatian represent the greatest challenge in demarcation