Territorial Rights of Nations and Peoples

"The reemergence of the nationalist spirit in the world today highlights the importance of this collection, which focuses on the "territorial rights of nations and peoples." The essays were selected from a competition sponsored by the Basic Issues Forum of Washington and Jefferson College. The book is divided into four logical sections: Part 1 deals with the question of territorial claims and international law. The notion of a "people" preceded the concept of the "state," creating problems in law and politics. These ideas lead into Part 2, which deals with people and artificially created political boundaries. The authors focus on the Irish, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Scotland, Catalonia, and the Chinese nation. Part 3 deals with the abstract and normative dimensions of justice, morality, and the actual territory in question. Part 4, the highly abstract concluding section, discusses the question of how people can continue to live with one another in the world in the future. This is a book best appreciated for its sensitivity to the increasing complexity of a multicultural world. Best suited for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students interested in ethics and international politics." - Choice