ABSTRACT
Introduction In modern society, territorial borders are constitutive only for the political system. This means that geographical extension (a bordered state territory, Staatsgebiet, Vitzthum 1987) is an indispensable precondition of modern stateness. The other preconditions are - if one wishes to follow the German legal tradition of defining stateness - a people (Staatsvolk, Grawert 1987) and a central government (Staatsgewalt, Randelzhofer 1987). In one respect, states have 'bodies' in a sense similar to human beings. Just as the human consciousness would not operate well or at all without a bodily base, states without territories would not be states; I they would not be able to do what they do - make collectively binding decisions for those subjected to government within the realm.
