ABSTRACT

This chapter surveys some of the sources and to separate a few of the sorts of questions being asked. It concentrates on one particular challenge, attempts to defend a notion of territorial sovereignty against it, and suggests some issues about territorial rights emerging from that defense, exploration of which cannot be pursued here. But it is useful to begin with some preliminary conceptual clarifications. The chapter shows some of its weaknesses and limitations. Rather than declaim reactionary paeans to the nation-state per se, it also shows that proponents of declustering overlook certain issues and problems, confrontation with which indicates formidable constraints on the degree of desirable declustering. The chapter discusses with an argument about public goods, moving from there to considerations about efficiency, community, and the requisites of democratic participation. It concludes by mentioning, without pursuing it, one more set of related issues, namely those revolving around questions of territorial rights.