Westphalia Was a European Fix

In 1648, Europe found a way to stop tearing itself apart. After decades of

religious war, European powers adopted territorial sovereignty as a containment mechanism.

One authority, one territory, no external interference. It worked, not because it was

morally superior, but because it solved a very specific European crisis: how to manage theological

conflict inside a culturally similar region. The problem came later.

That solution was exported globally and treated as universal law, not because the

rest of the world needed it, but because Europe had the power to impose it.

Many societies outside Europe were already managing pluralism through layered authority,