Boxing Pandora : rethinking borders, states, and secession in a democratic world / Timothy William Waters.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-292) and index.

Introduction: The boxes we live in, the beliefs we have -- The failure of a flourishing idea : the decadence of self-determination -- The map of our world : the limits of the classical system -- The measure of nations : testing the assumptions behind the classical rule -- A new right to secession -- People, territory, plebiscite : the main features : objections and answers -- Broader implications : features and effects of the new rule -- The hardest part : creating a right of secession -- Conclusion: The value of asking.

"A timely and provocative challenge to the foundations of our global order: why should national borders be unchangeable? The inviolability of national borders is an unquestioned pillar of the post-World War II international order. Fixed borders are believed to encourage stability, promote pluralism, and discourage nationalism and intolerance. But do they? What if fixed borders create more problems than they solve, and what if permitting borders to change would create more stability and produce more just societies? Legal scholar Timothy Waters examines this possibility, showing how we arrived at a system of rigidly bordered states and how the real danger to peace is not the desire of people to form new states but the capacity of existing states to resist that desire, even with violence. He proposes a practical, democratically legitimate alternative: a right of secession. With crises ongoing in the United Kingdom, Spain, Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, and many other regions, this reassessment of the foundations of our international order is more relevant than ever."-- Provided by publisher.