ABSTRACT
A truly nonterritorial actor is, of course, geographically universal. Nonterritorial actors with national components—governmental or nongovernmental—can be seen as governed primarily by the principle of isomorphy. A nonterritorial actor that is 100 percent isomorphic with the territorial system is in a sense only a replication of that system, except that it makes multilateral interaction possible. Of course, over time the internal workings of a nonterritorial actor will acquire facets never contemplated by its social architects, the lawyers. The idea of isomorphy can be split in two: the presence of territorial elements, states in nonterritorial actors, and the presence of territorial relations in these actors. Just as a state tries to find its appropriate place in a nonterritorial organization, so a nonterritorial organization is a vehicle facilitating the search for one's opposite number inside other states. Wars between nonterritorial actors are conceivable, but less easily fought, at least with the present military technology.
