The idea of nation grew out of the ancient idea of law and subsequently evolved in the form of national states as territorial boundaries. The unitary national state turned what was an internal conflict between a statesman and a merchant into an external conflict among nation states. As the USA and the EU demonstrates, the concept of nation state as a public good is either ambiguous or tautological. In a more or less distant future, the national locus is apt to move from a territorial to a procedural dimension.