  Plebiscitary theories have many appealing features. First, they are able to avoid some of the problems that afflict the other main type of primary right theory, ascriptivist theories, because they do not require either an account of what constitutes a nation nor an explanation of why nations have a right to their own state. In addition, if a plebiscitary right to secede is widely acknowledged, those wishing to secede need not frame their case in nationalist terms, which can provoke sometimes violent nationalistic responses from those who oppose them. Second, they are less conservative than remedial right only theories, as they permit a democratic redrawing of state boundaries—which, in theory, allows for a greater degree of self-determination for the people that reside within them. This appeal to a democratic determination of state boundaries rather than the maintenance of the status quo also advances an admirable commitment to democracy, understood as majority rule.