Territory, boundaries and collective self-determination

This paper examines the relationship between territory, boundaries, and self-determination, focusing especially on the relationship between functional justifications for state territory and state borders, and that of self-determination. It argues that a successful justificatory argument for territorial right appeal to the idea of ‘self-determination’, and responds to the usual criticism of this norm, while also accepting some role for functional justifications. It argues that functional explanations for state territory are valid, and that a state has to achieve the goods that justify it (so is functional in that sense) but that this argument is compatible with many different territorial configurations. It also argues that an appeal to ‘self-determination’ is a much more plausible argument (along with functionalism as a necessary but not sufficient condition), and argues that the ‘self ’ ought to be defined in a way that is non-ethnic and non-statist and shows how such a definition could be helpful.