"Uti possidetis juris" has been applied in modern history to such regions as South America, Africa, the Soviet Union, and numerous other regions where centralized governments were broken up, or where imperial rulers were overthrown.It is often applied to prevent foreign intervention by eliminating any contested "terra nullius", or no man's land, that foreign powers could claim, or to prevent disputes that could emerge with the possibility of redrawing the borders of new states after their independence.