1 - Participation in International Governance and the Logic of Self-Determination

Summary

Chapter 1, ‘Participation in International Governance and the Logic of Self-Determination’, makes a case for how a collective right of Indigenous peoples to participation in international governance relates to the law of self-determination. The chapter begins by examining the development of the law of self-determination in order to develop an account of its underlying logic. The chapter shows that self-determination is dynamic, multifaceted, relational, and remedial: that is, it is capable of multiple expressions that develop over time so as to remedy relationships of domination, subjugation, or exploitation. In other words, I argue that self-determination as a principle, over time, has provided an umbrella for the development of various legal rules concerning the relations between peoples and states; those rules have tended to emerge in a remedial manner. The chapter then argues that a right to participate in international governance could be justified as one such remedy, explaining how internal self-determination and individual rights to civil society participation do not suffice.