Our world is currently divided into territorial states that resist
all attempts to change their borders. But what entitles a state, or
the people it represents, to assume monopoly control over a
particular piece of the Earth's surface? Why are they allowed to
prevent others from entering? What if two or more states, or two or
more groups of people, claim the same piece of land? Political
philosophy, which has had a great deal to say about the
relationship between state and citizen, has largely ignored these
questions about territory. This book provides answers. It justifies
the idea of territory itself in terms of the moral value of
political self-determination; it also justifies, within limits,
those elements that we normally associate with territorial rights:
rights of jurisdiction, rights over resources, right to control
borders and so on. The book offers normative guidance over a number
of important issues facing us today, all of which involve territory
and territorial rights, but which are currently dealt with by ad
hoc reasoning: disputes over resources; disputes over boundaries,
oceans, unoccupied islands, and the frozen Arctic; disputes rooted
in historical injustices with regard to land; secessionist
conflicts; and irredentist conflicts. In a world in which there is
continued pressure on borders and control over resources, from
prospective migrants and from the desperate poor, and no coherent
theory of territory to think through these problems, this book
offers an original, systematic, and sophisticated theory of why
territory matters, who has rights over territory, and the scope and
limits of these rights. "This is a well-written, well-argued book
on an extraordinarily important and until recently neglected topic.
Moore is impressively knowledgeable of all the relevant
philosophical literature and does an excellent job in general of
distinguishing her view from those of others such as Miller,
Waldron, Kolers, Meisels, and Nine. Moore succeeds in staking out a
new, yet very plausible position-one that avoids the deficiencies
of rival theories. "-Allen Buchanan, James B. Duke Professor, Duke
University
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