‘Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources’ has come under considerable attack among cosmopolitan political theorists for providing states with arbitrary privileges over the use of natural resources. But this criticism goes too far. PSNR is not only about rights to exploit and sell natural resources. As this paper will argue, some degree of control over territory and resources cannot be disentangled from the distinctive nature of democratic rule in territorial states. It is intrinsically connected to the self-understanding of citizens as democratic agents who can take responsibility for their territory and its natural resources. The argument supporting this claim proceeds in two steps. The first step articulates a democratic and non-nationalistic understanding of territorial attachment. The second step distinguishes between two sets of rights over natural resources: control and income rights. As I purport to show only control rights can be justified as intrinsically connected to the importance of democratic self-determination
