Is it accurate to describe the modern world as 'Westphalian'? Benno Teschke ("Theorizing the Westphalian System of States"), for one, has argued that most of what we assume 1648 established had already been put in place during the previous Century, and that by 1648 some of the basic assumptions up on which the 'Westphalian Peace' was established were already obsolete. Is 'Westphalian' actually an adjective without historical substance?