The position of the United States on the Northwest Passage : is the fear of creating a precedent warranted?

For decades, Ottawa and Washington have been agreeing to disagree on the question of the legal status of the Northwest Passage. One argument which has been consistently raised on the U.S. side and which has precluded attempts to end the deadlock has been the fear of creating a negative precedent. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ocean Development & International Law
Main Authors: Lalonde, Suzanne, Lasserre, Frédéric
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:English
Published: Taylor and Francis 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/861
https://doi.org/10.1080/00908320.2012.726832
Description
Summary:For decades, Ottawa and Washington have been agreeing to disagree on the question of the legal status of the Northwest Passage. One argument which has been consistently raised on the U.S. side and which has precluded attempts to end the deadlock has been the fear of creating a negative precedent. This article assesses whether U.S. concerns are warranted: could coastal States elsewhere in the world rely on an eventual recognition of Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage to bolster their claims over a local strait?