States interact with each other ever more closely through different forms of organisations and treaties. Therefore, it is necessary to critically assess the normative status of peoples, beyond the internal and external sovereignty evaluations, as the relevant actors in international institutions and international law making. This paper addresses two questions basic for this issue: first, what is the people’s normative status based on, collective self-determination or individual autonomy? Second, which actors should be involved in international organisations and international law making? On the one hand, I will propose a Kantian approach of political autonomy that sees the basis of the normative status in individual but reciprocal autonomy. Therefore, internal sovereignty is based on legitimacy, which in turn depends on democratic intuitions (if feasible). On the other hand, I will argue that international actors should not be evaluated by this strong standard while the Rawls’ minimal human rights standard is insufficient.
