Beyond the Territorial State?

When a territory is stabilised and acquires an institutional character, it takes the form of a delimited space with fixed boundaries that is controlled by a group of people and has exclusive internal sovereignty and equal external status. The paradigmatic example of an institutionalised territorial space in modern times is the state, as it always presupposes a territory. But how does this relationship develop? This chapter discusses the role of the concept of territory in relation to the state and the historical dynamics shaping this relationship.