This chapter serves as a conceptual introduction to the book and provides an intellectual foundation for the quest for democratic governance with regard to the Taiwan and Tibet issues. It first traces the history of democratic ideas and defines the core components of democratic governance related to the national boundary/identity question. It then develops an analytic classification of different kinds of national boundary/identity or membership issue, followed by an investigation of the criteria for choosing national boundaries. It explores the question as to why national boundaries should be a matter of democratic choice, and of whether democracy has the capacity of addressing the issue. It addresses the issue of why democratic management of the boundary issue is desirable and discusses the functions the democratic management entails. Finally it qualifies the project of democratic management with a cautious note.

THE ORIGIN AND COMPONENTS OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE

The French Revolution first gave practical effect to the idea that people should have some choice of national boundary/identity. Since the French Revolution was based on the idea of popular sovereignty, it was argued that new rulers should not annex territories without consultation with the inhabitants of those territories (Goodhart 1971: 99). In 1791, the French Assembly rejected the Communes’ vote for annexing Avignon, by a vote of 487 to 316, on the ground that there was not sufficient evidence about the freedom of voting. This was the first modern exercise of the democratic principle to resolve national boundary questions (Goodhart 1971: 100–1).

The following is a review of three classical thinkers on this topic in the last three centuries: Immanuel Kant, J. S. Mill and John Calhoun. The reason these writers have been selected is because their theories have far-reaching influence and a strong following in the 21st century.

Kant (1724–1804): perpetual peace and democracy

Kant implicitly and explicitly discussed the boundary question in his famous essay on perpetual peace (1795). Kant's approach to the boundary question was cosmopolitan and democratic, which was evident in his idea of three articles for a perpetual peace. The first definitive article for a perpetual peace is that the civil constitution of every nation should be republican. There are three principles of republicanism: the freedom of the members of a society, the dependence of everyone on a single, common legislation, and the law of the equality of all citizens (Kant 1983: 112).