The idea that all states (or their heads) are nominally equal is pretty recent. It came from the treaty of Westphalia, ~1650. I'm no expert, but I think that mo

The idea that all states (or their heads) are nominally equal is pretty recent. It came from the treaty of Westphalia, ~1650. I'm no expert, but I think that model wasn't really applied to states outside Western Europe until ~20th century.