The Rise of the Territorial State and the Treaty of Westphalia

Jim Gottmann has elaborated on the background of where the idea of territory came from.

It comes from the Latin words “terra,” which means “land,” and “torium,” which means “belonging to the king.” That would be. 

The land that is under the control of a certain ruler or state is known as its territory. 

This interpretation can be traced all the way back to 1494. to roughly the same time that the modern economy of the world had its start.”

Despite the fact that the development of this idea occurred roughly concurrently with that of the global economy.

 In 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia, which is widely regarded as the first treaty to establish the foundations of contemporary international law, put the finishing touches on the agreement. 

It established that each state is sovereign over the land that it controls entirely.

To put it another way, the first violation of international law was seen to be involvement in the domestic affairs of another nation 

“Following the ratification of this convention, a number of independent states were established in Europe. 

This was the first world political map, and it served as the territorial basis for the contemporary interstate system.

It was determined that the territorial state was the most stable and, in relative terms, the most effective unit for maintaining the internal order.

Consequences resulting from the Treaty of Westphalia

The Westphalia settlement both legitimised and standardised the territorial practise that had been in place previously. It emphasised the autonomy of the several states.

As a result, Christendom was separated into independent secular states by a substantial boundary, and inside each of those states, the government had unquestioned power as the sole authoritative figure. 

As a result of this change, every sovereign territorial limit now has a new image. 

This means that all governments are the sole authority, and their decisions and arguments are only carried out within their own territorial limit. 

This is because the idea of Westphalian sovereignty is tied to state territory. 

According to the concept of territorial sovereignty, there can be only one absolute temporal power present within a territory, and that is the government of the territorial state.

This territorial division of royal authority, in the sense used today, was not present in the city-states of ancient Greece, nor did it exist in the Roman Empire, nor in the Christendom of the Middle Ages. 

In this sense, an example may be the Great Wall of China or the Roman line, but those periods of history were very different from the present day.

According to Littimore, the idea of a man-made great wall was more of a result of the kind of state that was built within China as opposed to the kind of pressure that was placed against China from the steppe.

Contribution of the Treaty of Westphalia in Establishing Peace in the World

The Treaty of Westphalia included some normative notions that were highly significant in interstate relations. 

These conceptions can be found in the previous sentence. 

Because of the significance that these ideas hold in the sphere of international politics, they have been included into subsequent tools.

Article 2 of the United Nations Charter incorporates two prevailing interpretations of the Treaty of Westphalia. 

These interpretations have influenced international law ever since. 

When viewed in light of their connection to one another, Article 2(1) and Article 2(7) are found to be acceptable.

Article 2(1) of the Charter states that the organisation is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all of its members. Article 2(7) of the Charter states that 

“Nothing contained in the present charter shall authorise the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the members to submit such matters to settlement under the present charter.” 

Both of these ideas originated from the Treaty of Westphalia. 

Sovereign equality and the Treaty of Westphalia were the foundations of peace among people. 

Conclusion

There are currently about 200 different states that make up the human race. Both the state structure and international law have undergone significant evolution over time.

Interstate relations have rapidly expanded in a variety of spheres, and international law now governs how these relations are to be conducted. 

Within the framework of the interstate system, both the territorial sovereignty and the sovereign equality of states are acknowledged. 

These are some of the fundamental tenets of international law.

These ideas originate from the Treaty of Westphalia, which was signed in 1648. 

As a result, the Treaty of Westphalia is an important turning point in the development of the modern state structure.

This treaty makes an effort to bring order and consistency to the social and political domains of existence.

This places international law in the position of being a logical philosophy, a handmaiden of statehood, and the cultural heir of religious and moral principle. 

It does this by bringing an end to the thirty-year battle.