Political Motivation and Annexations: A comparative study of the political motivation to annex a sovereign territory.

Abstract: Unveiling political motivation as a feature in the actions of states has since the mid 20th century been a rising subject of interest in the academic research of International Relations. Research has predominatly focused on the incidence of war as a method to foster domestic support, however the manifestation of political stimulus streches past these events. The study aims to reasearch the political motivation behind annexations. By comparing the annexations of East-Timor and Tibet from a theoretical perspective of political incentive, the thesis aims to compare and analyze the structural setting in which the decision to annex is made. The study will utilize two theoretical approaches to provide a larger scientific validity for the answer. First, using the diversionary war theory to analyse the structural incentives for a political motivation to be relevant. Second, rational choice theory will analyse the choice to annex. Each theory is analysed independently, presenting strong evidence that the annexations were politically motivated. The sub-conclusions will the be merged into one conclusion that briefly summarizes the results.