It kind of seems to me that "the modern territorial state sprung into existence with the signing of the Peace of Westphalia" is something of an axiom within academic polsci. However, I often see it being mentioned as a throwaway statement by legal and political science scholars that don't necessarily have a history background, and it rarely seems to be engaged with in any critical manner. Was the Treaty itself really that pivotal of an event? How can it be reconciled with notions of statehood held in non-European contexts?