The Right to Self-Determination of Peoples: Notes on its Compatibility With Three Models of Global Order

The right to self-determination has become an increasing legitimate demand of peoples seeking recognition and autonomy. In the beginning, this right was conceived in favor of peoples that depended on colonial powers, but today it has become a claim of any people that considers itself a people, as in the case of indigenous peoples or non-colonized peoples. This concept of the right to self-determination seems to be the path leading to a more heterogeneous world. Conversely, the rise of various problems that affect us globally seems to require the creation of international political institutions capable of solving these problems, which would most likely lead us toward a more homogeneous global order. Although both tendencies have powerful reasons that make them irreversible, it is not clear how they can co-exist. In this article, the author discusses whether a broad notion of the right to self-determination is compatible with three different models of global order proposed by Thomas Christiano, Rafael Domingo, and James Bohman, respectively.