Conquest Is Back

The norm against territorial conquest is a pillar of the post–1945 international order, but that pillar is now crumbling. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is certainly the most egregious recent violation of this prohibition—an outlier, as an attempt to capture an entire sovereign country. Yet if Moscow gets to walk away with pieces of Ukrainian territory, and particularly if that transfer wins international recognition, other powers may be more tempted to wage wars of conquest.