ABSTRACT
State sovereignty has been the key institutional support for selfdetermination for more than three centuries. Wars, whether civil or international, have redefined the relevant actors and their inter-relationships from time to time and more or less radically. The nature of sovereignty, whether it is understood territorially, judicially or economically, has also undergone redefinition. Nonetheless, the fundamental pillar of the Westphalian system of states – the respect for national borders and the autonomy of domestic actors within them – has endured, at least legally. The key question is whether it will continue to endure also in practice.1
