Territorial Integrity in a Globalizing World [recurso electrónico] : International Law and State's Quest for Survival

This book offers a comprehensive, highly informative and interdisciplinary study on territorial integrity and the challenges globalization, self-determination and external interventions present. This study aims at not only to fill an epistemological gap in this regard, but also answer the question of whether International Law is adequately equipped to help states address these challenges. The author argues that the biggest threat that many states are confronted with today is their disintegration rather than their obsolescence, and that International Law has not often been able to prevent that eventuality. In fact, states, when they were not destroyed by war, managed to survive, thanks to the flexibility of territoriality, i.e. their ability to adjust to difficult situations as they arose. It is this understanding of adaptation that urges an increasing number of states today to revive territorial autonomy and restore an original understanding of self-determination in which democracy is a pivotal factor in establishing congruence between the states and their nations. While this move is endorsed by International Law, it is not the case for globalization; for their own sake, proponents of globalization should recognize that the states are irreplaceable as long as they remain the sole providers of protection for their peoples. Front Matter....Pages i-xix Front Matter....Pages 1-3 The State’s Sovereign Right to Existence....Pages 5-48 The State’s Ability to Ensure Its Own Survival....Pages 49-109 Front Matter....Pages 111-112 The Ambiguous Protection of State Territory....Pages 113-166 The Weakening of States’ Territorial Sovereignty....Pages 167-238 Front Matter....Pages 239-240 The Self-Determination Classical Paradigm: Making Peripheral States Disintegrate....Pages 241-301 The Self-Determination Postmodern Paradigm: Preventing States’ Disintegration....Pages 303-374 Back Matter....Pages 375-390