The Archipelagic States Concept and Regional Stability in Southeast Asia

For the Philippines and Indonesia, adoption by the Third Law of the Sea Conference in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (1982 LOS Convention) of Articles 46-54 on Archipelagic States, marked the capstone of the two countries\u27 efforts to win international recognition for the archipelagic principle. For both, acceptance by the international community of this principle was an important step in their political development from a colony to a sovereign state. Their success symbolized independence from colonial status and their role in the shaping of the international community in which they live