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Thread: When Is It Justifiable For a State to Annex Territory?

  1. #1

    When Is It Justifiable For a State to Annex Territory?

    To answer this question, I would do a kind of cost-benefit analysis, comparing the aggression required to annex the territory with the aggression which the annexation would prevent, if any. For instance, if Rome is quite liberal and Gaul quite tyrannical, and Rome could annex some Gallic territory at a sufficiently low cost, doing so would be justified: if not, not.

    My question is directed particularly to those who reject the above analysis because they place a high value on national sovereignty. If you believe that territorial annexation is never justified, that calls into question the legitimacy of all existing nations (which only came into being in the first place through territorial annexation). If you believe that there are certain conditions under which territorial annexation is justified, what are they, if not those I laid out above?



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  3. #2
    A very complex question indeed, I do not believe that "good government" alone is sufficient justification, there are potential justifications but I do not as yet have a comprehensive philosophical theory worked out, I therefore have to judge each case on it's merits one at a time.

    As to the legitimacy of nearly all extant nations all I can say is that we may be able to learn from the past but we can't change it, any attempt to judge more than the worst cases will founder for want of contextual understanding of the circumstances and the level of enlightenment of those who lived in those times.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  4. #3
    I'm not a government. I wouldn't know.

  5. #4
    Ideally, at the behest of the residents of the land to be annexed.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  6. #5
    A nation's fate is unknowable, but still certain, so nat'l security is near-sighted a reason; "the end" never justifies something as bold as occupation and annexation of strange lands. Geography should be the invader's first consideration, e.g. terrain, ethnicity, religion, culture, and history - maybe in that order. At least four of those must positively justify planning, invading, and installing a puppet government. Otherwise, you're a schizo United Bases of America, taking decades of blowback and sinking trillions in deniable and endless wars.

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    A very complex question indeed, I do not believe that "good government" alone is sufficient justification, there are potential justifications but I do not as yet have a comprehensive philosophical theory worked out, I therefore have to judge each case on it's merits one at a time.
    Can you give an example of an annexation which you think was justified?

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Can you give an example of an annexation which you think was justified?
    South Carolina taking Ft. Sumpter.

    Ancient Israel taking the promised land.

    The US accepting Texas into the union. (The colonization by the Spanish and then the Anglos and the secession from Mexico are less clear)

    Most of history is Grey or Checkered, but I can imagine theoretical justifications like the conquest or even possibly the extermination of a tribe of cannibals that constantly raid the territory of the state in question.

    If I spent the time thinking about history I might be able to come up with other examples.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  9. #8
    @Swordsmyth

    I'm wondering about your rationale:

    Ft. Sumpter/cannibals - justified because it was/would be defensive?

    Israel - justified on theological grounds (if so, I don't need the details)?

    Texas - justified because some sufficient fraction of the Texas population/their representatives supported it?



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Ft. Sumpter/cannibals - justified because it was/would be defensive?
    Ft. Sumpter was not only vital to S. Carolina's defense but was a just part of it's share of Federal territory that it was entitled to take with it when it left the union.
    The cannibals example is defense/retribution for wrongs.

    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Israel - justified on theological grounds (if so, I don't need the details)?
    Yes, GOD owns everything and is the judge of everyone, he has a right to take from one group and give to another.

    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Texas - justified because some sufficient fraction of the Texas population/their representatives supported it?
    Yes, it was peaceful and voluntary.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Yes, it was peaceful and voluntary.
    If you mean that it was popular, apparently so; if you mean that every Texas supported it, surely not.

    In any event, are those three justifications (self-defense, God's will, democratic self-determination) the only ones?

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    If you mean that it was popular, apparently so; if you mean that every Texas supported it, surely not.

    In any event, are those three justifications (self-defense, God's will, democratic self-determination) the only ones?
    I do not know if that is the complete list, but those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, I would need to be given an example or a philosophical argument to judge for any others, as I said before "I can rule them better than they rule themselves" is not good enough.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    I do not know if that is the complete list, but those are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, I would need to be given an example or a philosophical argument to judge for any others, as I said before "I can rule them better than they rule themselves" is not good enough.
    No people rules itself; it's always one group ruling another. "Self-rule" a euphemism for the ruling group being of local origin.

    That aside, as for another example, how about the US annexing Mexican territory in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo?

    Those territories didn't join voluntarily, nor (I think) would anyone make the argument that their annexation was necessary for defense.

  15. #13
    I would say it is morally justifiable if it makes the country freer. If I lived in Mexico I would welcome the United States taking the country over. Once it is understood to be moral, I think it becomes a cost/benefit analysis.

    edit: What is funny is I just skimmed the answers and didn't read the original post and it says almost the exact same thing I just said.
    Last edited by Krugminator2; 09-06-2017 at 05:32 PM.

  16. #14
    If I claim it , never . If someone else claims it and I want it , probably as long as it provides freedom and economic incentive .

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    No people rules itself; it's always one group ruling another. "Self-rule" a euphemism for the ruling group being of local origin.

    That aside, as for another example, how about the US annexing Mexican territory in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo?

    Those territories didn't join voluntarily, nor (I think) would anyone make the argument that their annexation was necessary for defense.
    The theoretical justification for the US annexing Mexican territory in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was retribution for wrongs, whether Mexico committed the alleged wrongs and whether the compensation was proportionate are historically debatable as was Mexico's claim to large portions of the territory in the first place since much of it had never been settled or subdued by them, and then there is the question of the Natives claims to the territory which immediately brings up the questions of barbarians vs. civilization and nomads vs. sedentary societies, it is also complex because different tribes were at different levels of barbarism and nomadism.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  18. #16
    Forget Hidalgo, we've annexed Mexico. Their government's just a vassal of our CIA/DEA/ICE. All the more reason not to give a damn about our borders, because we can't respect them ourselves. I can count the countries USG haven't annexed one handed, and I'll probably run out of countries before fingers.



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  20. #17
    The annexation of Texas was justified, but it was certainly not peaceful. The Whigs warned that annexation would lead to war, which it did.
    Stop believing stupid things

  21. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    The theoretical justification for the US annexing Mexican territory in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was retribution for wrongs, whether Mexico committed the alleged wrongs and whether the compensation was proportionate are historically debatable as was Mexico's claim to large portions of the territory in the first place since much of it had never been settled or subdued by them, and then there is the question of the Natives claims to the territory which immediately brings up the questions of barbarians vs. civilization and nomads vs. sedentary societies, it is also complex because different tribes were at different levels of barbarism and nomadism.
    Let's take this in a slightly different direction.

    Earlier you said:

    As to the legitimacy of nearly all extant nations all I can say is that we may be able to learn from the past but we can't change it, any attempt to judge more than the worst cases will founder for want of contextual understanding of the circumstances and the level of enlightenment of those who lived in those times.
    You mean that, even if an annexation was unjust, it would be unjust to reverse it?

  22. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Let's take this in a slightly different direction.

    Earlier you said:



    You mean that, even if an annexation was unjust, it would be unjust to reverse it?
    That depends on how much time has passed, and how many people are still alive that were involved.

    I will no more agree to give the southwest back to Mexico or the Indians than I will pay "reparations" to the blacks, nor would I expect Italians to pay reparations for the crimes of Rome against the Celts and Germans.

    Questions like Northern Ireland etc. are difficult and I refuse to get involved in any that I don't have to, if I was involved in such a dispute I would have to judge it as an individual case.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    That depends on how much time has passed, and how many people are still alive that were involved.

    I will no more agree to give the southwest back to Mexico or the Indians than I will pay "reparations" to the blacks, nor would I expect Italians to pay reparations for the crimes of Rome against the Celts and Germans.

    Questions like Northern Ireland etc. are difficult and I refuse to get involved in any that I don't have to, if I was involved in such a dispute I would have to judge it as an individual case.
    I entirely agree that restitution should be limited to the individuals actually involved, or their known heirs - ethnic groups or other collectives can neither commit crimes nor be victims of them. But that isn't the issue at stake here. We're talking about which state controls a given territory, not about transfers of private wealth in compensation for past crimes.

    What is the rationale for a time limit on reversing annexations?

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    I entirely agree that reparations (i.e. compensation for crimes) should be limited to the individuals actually involved, or their known heirs - ethnic groups or other collectives can neither commit crimes nor be victims. But that isn't the issue at stake here. We're talking about which state controls a given territory, not about transfers of private wealth.

    What is the rationale for a time limit on reversing annexations?
    The nation is a group of individuals, those living several generations after the taking of the territory had nothing to do with it and should not be uprooted or forcibly put under the control of a government they don't support.

    Also there is simply a practical question, how far back in history are we going to go to determine the legitimate owner of a territory? 100 years? 1066AD? 1AD?
    Noah's sons?

    There has to be a limit and it makes sense to draw that limit relatively close to now to limit any disruption of the innocent.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  25. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    The nation is a group of individuals, those living several generations after the taking of the territory had nothing to do with it and should not be uprooted or forcibly put under the control of a government they don't support.
    Suppose Ruritania conquers the world and maintains its conquest for a couple generations, such that people come to accept its rule.

    It would then be unjust to attempt to reverse this world conquest?

    Also there is simply a practical question, how far back in history are we going to go to determine the legitimate owner of a territory? 100 years? 1066AD? 1AD?
    Noah's sons?

    There has to be a limit and it makes sense to draw that limit relatively close to now to limit any disruption of the innocent.
    That's a problem for a theory based on national sovereignty; it's not a problem for a theory based on aggression minimization.

  26. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Suppose Ruritania conquers the world and maintains its conquest for a couple generations, such that people come to accept its rule.

    It would then be unjust to attempt to reverse this world conquest?
    Revolt or secession are different than either the diplomatic transfer of territory or a "Reconquista" war.



    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    That's a problem for a theory based on national sovereignty; it's not a problem for a theory based on aggression minimization.
    Aggression minimization would dictate an immediate freeze of all borders at the time that it could be enforced, it would ignore the property rights of any aggrieved groups.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Revolt or secession are different than either the diplomatic transfer of territory or a "Reconquista" war.
    How so?

    Aggression minimization would dictate an immediate freeze of all borders at the time that it could be enforced
    Only from the perspective of infinitely high time preference, which would be absurd.



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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    How so?
    In a revolt or a secession it is possible that the vast majority of the residents of the area in question want to change their allegiance, while it is possible in the case of a diplomatic transfer I would call that secession if it was, a war of "Reconquista" is by definition forcing something on the current inhabitants or it is secession.



    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Only from the perspective of infinitely high time preference, which would be absurd.
    Then what weight would you give to property rights assuming we are not talking about the successful implementation of your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    What weight would you give to property rights in drawing the regional subdivisions in your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    In a revolt or a secession it is possible that the vast majority of the residents of the area in question want to change their allegiance, while it is possible in the case of a diplomatic transfer I would call that secession if it was, a war of "Reconquista" is by definition forcing something on the current inhabitants or it is secession.
    So this goes back to democratic self-determination, the justification you cited for the annexation of Texas.. Q. If the majority have the right to choose which state rules them ("their own" or a "foreign" one), do they have a right to choose what form of state rules them, or in what manner their state rules them?

    Then what weight would you give to property rights assuming we are not talking about the successful implementation of your theoretical perfect one world monarchy? What weight would you give to property rights in drawing the regional subdivisions in your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    I don't follow. Weigh them how? Against what?

  31. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    So this goes back to democratic self-determination, the justification you cited for the annexation of Texas.. Q. If the majority have the right to choose which state rules them ("their own" or a "foreign" one), do they have a right to choose what form of state rules them, or in what manner their state rules them?
    Yes, as we discussed in another thread.



    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    I don't follow. Weigh them how? Against what?
    How would you weigh them intellectually against all other considerations in determining the philosophically correct outcome to each territorial dispute.

    What weight would you give to property rights assuming we are not talking about the successful implementation of your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    What weight would you give to property rights in drawing the regional subdivisions in your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Yes, as we discussed in another thread.
    IIRC, you said you opposed majoritarianism.

    You're now saying that however the majority governs is just...?

    How would you weigh them intellectually against all other considerations in determining the philosophically correct outcome to each territorial dispute.

    What weight would you give to property rights assuming we are not talking about the successful implementation of your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    What weight would you give to property rights in drawing the regional subdivisions in your theoretical perfect one world monarchy?
    Like what?

    On the aggression minimizing view, protecting property (aka minimizing aggression) is the only consideration.

    The best outcome to a given territorial dispute is the one which maximally protects property.

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    IIRC, you said you opposed majoritarianism.

    You're now saying that however the majority governs is just...?
    Not everything we have a right to do is just, I desire to live in a state that is limited by things like the Bill of Rights and I would try to convince the majority to submit to that kind of government, if I could not I would seek to move somewhere that did or to secede if enough of my neighbors in a large enough area agreed with me.



    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    Like what?

    On the aggression minimizing view, protecting property (aka minimizing aggression) is the only consideration.

    The best outcome to a given territorial dispute is the one which maximally protects property.
    But where do you draw the line in time when determining ownership?
    The old saying is that possession is 9/10ths of the law, at what threshold does the other 10th override possession?
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Not everything we have a right to do is just
    I would say that what someone has a right to do is just by definition, that that is what the words mean, but no sense arguing semantics.

    I desire to live in a state that is limited by things like the Bill of Rights and I would try to convince the majority to submit to that kind of government, if I could not I would seek to move somewhere that did or to secede if enough of my neighbors in a large enough area agreed with me.
    In other words, it would be unjust to use force to oppose a majoritarian tyranny?

    But where do you draw the line in time when determining ownership?
    The old saying is that possession is 9/10ths of the law, at what threshold does the other 10th override possession?
    You could say that possessors never become owners and allow the de facto statute of limitations to operate (i.e. with the passage of enough time, proof becomes practically impossible); or you could have an arbitrary statute of limitations. I'm not sure that it makes much difference. Anyway, what does this have to do with the aggression-minimization theory? I mean, if your point is that there's no perfect way to determine who owns what, I agree, but what's the upshot of that? Therefore, property is bad...?

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