  Wellman’s view on the potentially opposing territorial claims is thus grounded in his functionalist understanding of state legitimacy and his strong interpretation of the right to self-determination. According to the prevalent understanding of self-determination in mainstream political philosophy and international law, however, the right to self-determination includes only two features: freedom from external interference in self-governance and some minimally democratic form of government such that each member of the polity enjoys equal political participation rights. On this understanding, it appears that the right to self-determination could only ground a right to territory if possessing their own territory is the only way in which a group could be free of external interference or could achieve democracy. It does not encompass a right to take a portion of the territory of a state that satisfies these two requirements. To respond to these criticisms, the plebiscitary theory needs to be supplemented with a plausible theory of territorial rights that explains how the right to self-determination can generate a claim to territory in a portion of a legitimate state in which all citizens already enjoy some sufficient degree of self-determination. More on this in §2.4.