Territoriality and beyond: problematizing modernity in international relations

TLDR

Territoriality, though central to modern international politics, has been surprisingly understudied, yet its changes can profoundly reshape the world polity. The article aims to examine how modern territoriality was originally established to understand its potential transformation. Historical analysis shows that unbundled territoriality offers a useful framework for exploring postmodern international politics, highlighting multiperspectival institutional forms as a key dimension.

Abstract

The concept of territoriality has been studied surprisingly little by students of international politics. Yet, territoriality most distinctively defines modernity in international politics, and changes in few other factors can so powerfully transform the modern world polity. This article seeks to frame the study of the possible transformation of modern territoriality by examining how that system of relations was instituted in the first place. The historical analysis suggests that “unbundled” territoriality is a useful terrain for exploring the condition of postmodernity in international politics and suggests some ways in which that exploration might proceed. The emergence of multiperspectival institutional forms is identified as a key dimension of the condition of postmodernity in international politics.