What is the idea that people in a territory shoild have the ability to choose their own government?

Question

what is the idea that people in a territory shoild have the ability to choose their own government

Answer 1

Ability is not the same as Right.

Anyone has the ability to engage in revolution and get killed pretty fast, if their ability is not as good as they think it is.

Some governments grant rights to the people in some territories to decide what kind of government they want to have.  For example, the people of Ireland were given the right to vote whether they wanted to be independent or be part of Britain.  Most voted to form an independent state now called the Republic of Ireland.  A few counties, now known as Northern Ireland, voted to be part of Britain.

A lot of people in Northern Ireland, who were on the losing side of the vote, they had the ability to make trouble for the winning side, instead of traveling across the border to live with people who wanted their own government.

Answer 2

It's sometimes called 'the right to self determination'.  The philosophy goes back to the Enlightenment of the 17th century to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, the idea that government is an expression of the will of the people.  Man is born free, he creates government to serve his needs and gives up some of his freedom in return for social order.  He has a right to vote and/or to be represented.