1 The role of prestige in creating intractable interstate border disputes: the case of the Sino-Indian border dispute. Stephen Westcott 1 The Sino-Indian border dispute has proven notoriously difficult to resolve and has been the cause of several military skirmishes and diplomatic standoffs in the past. Yet curiously there have been no theoretical examination as to why it remains unresolved, with only a handful of studies investigating what causes interstate border dispute (IBD) intractability more generally. In this article, I argue that the three existing explanations behind IBD behaviour only sheds light onto part of the problem of intractability. Instead, I posit that the key to understanding why the Sino-Indian border dispute specifically and IBDs generally ďeĐoŵe iŶtraĐtaďle aŶd eŶduriŶg lies iŶ a states seŶse of national prestige'. Prestige is effeĐtiǀelLJ the iŶǀisiďle haŶd ǁhiĐh ŵotiǀates aĐtors iŶ international affairs and is pivotal in establishing an unofficial hierarchy within the international system. Hence, all state offiĐials Đoǀet aŶd Đherish their states prestige aŶd aĐtiǀelLJ aǀoid losiŶg faĐe. WheŶ a state involved in an IBD believes that making concessions towards the rival claimant would lead to a serious loss of prestige, its officials obstinately maintain their maximum claim or an otherwise incompatible stance. As state leaders and officials in both China and India have repeatedly indicated that national prestige is a strong concern when devising policies, I argue that prestige is a key factor behind their negotiations becoming deadlocked and intractable. Key words: Prestige, interstate border disputes, Sino-Indian relations, diplomacy Introduction The Sino-Indian border dispute has been the major source of tension between the two countries since relations first broke down over the issue in 1959. Tensions exacerbated, eventually leading to a brief war in 1962 in which Peoples ‘epuďliĐ of China decisively defeated the Republic of India (simplified to China and India respectively from hereon). Though relations were normalised between China and India in 1976, the border dispute has remained a consistent spoiler in their bilateral relationship. Indeed, negotiations to resolve the Sino-Indian dispute are frequently deadlocked, diplomatic relations are often chilled by frequent incidents along the border and bilateral economic and political connections remaining relatively stunted. This immediately begs the question: what has caused the Sino-Indian border dispute to become intractable? Curiously, despite ChiŶa aŶd IŶdias growing role in international affairs, there has been no systematic exploration into this question. Instead, the majority of existing studies of the Sino-Indian border dispute are either historical aĐĐouŶts of the disputes eŵeƌgeŶĐe oƌ ĐoŵŵeŶtaƌies aŶd assessŵeŶts of speĐifiĐ oƌ ƌeĐeŶt eǀeŶts (see Fang 2002; Hoffmann 1990; Kalha 2014; Ma 2014; Maxwell 2013; Mehra 2007; Smith 2014). This is all the more concerning in light of the sheer size of the territory that the Sino-Indian border dispute covers and the fact that India and China are both clearly situated to play a leading role in international politics in the twenty-first century. 1 Doctoral Candidate, School of Business and governance, Murdoch University