A Political Theory of Territory (Oxford Political Philosophy)

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. 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 re

Margaret Moore is Professor in the Political Studies department at Queen's University (Canada). She is the author of Foundations of Liberalism and Ethics of Nationalism.

For anyone working on issues related to territory, this book is a veritable 'must read'." --Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Online"This is a well-written, well-argued book on an extraordinarily important and until recently neglected topic. An important contribution to the fieldHighly recommended." -- Choice. 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. No other author to date has taken on the wide array of issues discussed in Moore's current work, nor has anyone previ