The people of the Falkland Islands are deep in “commemoration season”, preparing for Liberation Day on June 14. This date has been celebrated on the South Atlantic archipelago as its national day since 1982, when Britain defeated Argentina in a 74-day conflict that claimed more than 900 lives, and reclaimed control over the territory.

Despite its failed invasion, Argentina has never given up its claim that what it refers to as Las Islas Malvinas, which are located approximately 500 km off its east coast, are integral to its sovereign territory. The UK counters that descendants of British settlers, present since the 1830s, possess the right to self-determination which they express through their continued association with the UK as a British Overseas Territory.

There are then competing interpretations of territorial integrity and self-determination. These are two of the most important principles of postwar international law. With each argument premised on an “all-or-nothing” logic of absolute rights, historical events and their legal significance have been continuously and cyclically rehashed over nearly two centuries.

But the issue of who controls the islands has been made more significant by the looming possibility of a major oil extraction. The Sea Lion field, about 220 km north of the Falklands, has a potential yield of up to 55,000 barrels a day with a further 125,000 a day in phase two. Its owner plans to commence drilling as early as 2027.

The Argentinian president, Javier Milei, whose programme of heavy government........

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