Efforts to organise individuals into productive and effective groups have challenged political thinkers from antiquity. Aristotle, for example, wrote that:

To determine the size of the polis - to settle how large it can properly be, and whether it ought to consist of the members of one people or several - is a duty incumbent on the statesman.

The search has been much influenced by the desire to recreate a supposed universal and natural order of harmony. The tension in the search, however, has been in harnessing not only the individuals, but also the groups to which individuals belong to the pursuit of this natural order. This article will examine the efficacy of certain concepts of international law in understanding, analysing and addressing problems associated with the development and expression of individual and group entities. It will conclude with an assessment of its adequacy and the areas requiring further development.