One thought on “My review of Angels and Demons…

  1. In practice, self-determination has won, but inviolability slows the pace of winning.

    I’m not so sure that self-determination has won out over inviolability of borders, on the whole. There are three definite cases where borders set at decolonisation were later altered by acts of self-determination (always following horrible war) – Bangladesh, Eritrea and South Sudan. But there are lots more cases where the doctrine of inviolability of borders legitimated central government crushing the rebels, or potential rebels, or just people who were looking at them in a funny way, with the rest of the world turning a blind eye. And several in-between situations, as described in this book, where neither principle has yet prevailed.

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