ABSTRACT
Chapter 7 first introduces the concept of “territorial disputes” and considers the reasons how and why they start and why some continue endlessly whilst others reach a solution. The goal is to evaluate a fictional territorial difference by reviewing its elements and features in light of the different pluralisms. In doing so, the last two sections use unidimensional and multidimensional approaches to explain how they would assess the different relevant pluralisms at hand. The rationale to choose territorial disputes as an example of crises is simple. Despite their apparent peculiarities, arguably, all ongoing crises include a variety of interests, and the involved agents fail to offer viable coherent and cohesive, peaceful and permanent ways to deal with them. By shifting from a current unidimensional paradigm about the relationship between sovereignty and cosmopolitanism to a reconceived multidimensional paradigm where sovereignty and cosmopolitanism can (and should) operate together, it is possible to fully comprehend the complexity these disputes have and potentially address them in a more efficient way. The prospects for such a model are promising because it makes it possible to reimagine the global order in a way that can be applied by means of analogy to other issues.
