Really insightful post, thanks for writing it. The concept of a “Network State” has been difficult for me to grasp, but this piece helps me get closer. For example here you mention that territory is a way of defining ownership of resources, which is partially true, but seems to sidestep other important aspects of a nation state’s territory: the ability of the nation state to use force within territory to enforce laws, the ability of the nation state to restrict who can enter or leave territory, etc. If instead we limit “territory” to only mean resource ownership, then we are back to the other counter argument quoted in your post: what makes a network state different than a country club?
Really insightful post, thanks for writing it. The concept of a “Network State” has been difficult for me to grasp, but this piece helps me get closer. For example here you mention that territory is a way of defining ownership of resources, which is partially true, but seems to sidestep other important aspects of a nation state’s territory: the ability of the nation state to use force within territory to enforce laws, the ability of the nation state to restrict who can enter or leave territory, etc. If instead we limit “territory” to only mean resource ownership, then we are back to the other counter argument quoted in your post: what makes a network state different than a country club?