"Territorial rights are shared between overlapping political units, not exclusively held by states. This book takes this claim to be both an empirical observation and a philosophical goal. A theory of territorial rights should be able to inform the normative relationship between overlapping territorial units. To do this, Nines view defends a river model of territorial rights. On a river model, political units are assumed to be interdependent and overlapping. This model stands in contrast to the prevailing desert island model, where political units are assumed to be independent and distinct from each other. Drawing on Pufendorfs natural law philosophy and feminist theory, Nines view argues for the establishment of foundational territories around geographical areas like rivers. Usually lower-scale political entities, foundational territories overlap with and serve as grounding blocks of larger territorial units.

Examples of foundational territories include not just river catchment areas but also urban areas, drawn around individuals who hold obligations to collectively manage their surroundings together. Foundational territorial authorities manage spatially integrated areas where agents are interconnected by dense and scaffolded physical circumstances. In these areas, individuals cannot fulfil their natural obligations to each other without the help of collective rules. Because foundational territories overlap the territories of other political units, this book frames a theory of nested and shared territorial rights"--.