Economics, Foreign & International Law, African, Asian, Business & Finance, Law, Political Science 

Since 1991 more than a dozen new land-locked states have emerged to be confronted with the established geostrategic problems of access and communications. For some, establishing transit routes is a crucial question for the exploitation of their energy resources. In many developing countries the condition of land-lockedness has often been an intrinsic factor in their poor economic performance. With the end of the Cold War and subsequent cuts in political and economic support, new alliances are being forged between African and Asian land-locked states and their neighbours.

Contributors represent a balance between regional specialists and those few authorities who have written extensively on the geopolitical implications of land-lockedness. A number of case studies in this book focus on the historical development of trade routes, transportation systems and boundaries. 

Table of Contents

Introduction by Keith McLachlan.............................................................p. 1
The Experience of Land-lockedness in Africa by Ieuan Ll. Griffiths ..............p. 12
Chad: Power Vacuum or Geopolitical Focus by George Joffe ......................p. 25
Land-locked Niger and its Alternative Seaport Access by Ali Djimba ............p. 40
Land-lockedness and Dependency on Coastal Countries: The Case of Ethiopia by Wuhib Muluneh ......................................................................................p. 56
African Land and Access Corridors by Ieuan Ll. Griffiths .............................p. 69
Afghanistan: the Geopolitics of a Buffer State by Keith McLachlan ................p. 82
Land-locked Central Asia: Implications for the Future by Sarah J. Lloyd ........p. 97
Mongolia: Looking to the Sea by Alan Sanders .........................................p. 134
Land-locked Laos: Dilemmas of Development at the Edge of the World by Jonathan Rigg ..................................................................................................p. 153
Transit Arrangements between Nepal and India: A Study in International Law by Surya P. Subedi .................................................................................p. 175
Resolving the Problems of Land-lockedness by Martin Ira Glassner...........p. 197
Conclusions by Dick Hodder .........................................................p. 209