Last Thursday's unprecedented incidents at one of the world's most famous soccer matches illustrate the dark side of the post- (and pre-) Westphalian world.

The events are well known, and were recorded and broadcasted in real time by dozens of cameras: one or more fans of Boca Juniors managed to open a small hole in the protective plastic tunnel through which River Plate players were exiting the field at the end of the first half, and managed to attack some of them with, it's believed, both a flare and a chemical similar to mustard gas, causing vision problems and first-degree burns to some of the players.

After this, it took more than an hour for match authorities to decide to suspend the game, and more than another hour for the players to leave the field, as police feared the players might be injured by the roughly two hundred fans chanting and throwing projectiles from the area of the stands from which they had attacked the River Plate players. And let's not forget the now mandatory illegal drone that was flown over the field controlled by a fan in the stands.

The empirical diagnosis of this is unequivocal: the Argentine state, as defined and delimited by its monopoly of force in its territory, has retreated from soccer stadiums. The police force present in the stadium — ten times as numerous as the remaining fans — could neither prevent, stop, nor punish their violence, or even force them to leave the stadium. What other proof can be required of a de facto independent territory? This isn't, as club and security officers put it, the work of a maladjusted few, or even an irrational act. It's the oldest and most effective form of political statement: Here and now, I have the monopoly of force. Here and now, this is mine.

What decision-makers get in exchange for this territorial grant, and what other similar exchanges are taking place, are local details for a separate analysis. This is the darkest and oldest part of the post-Westphalian characteristic development of states relinquishing sovereignty over parts of their territory and functions in exchange for certain services, in partial reversal to older patterns of government. It might be to bands of hooligans, special economic zones, prison gangs, or local or foreign militaries. The mechanics and results are the same, even in nominally fully functional states, and there is no reason to expect them the be universally positive or free of violence. When or where has it been otherwise in world history?

This isn't a phenomenon exclusive to the third world, or to ostensibly failed states, particularly in its non-geographical manifestations: many first world countries have effectively lost control of their security forces, and, taxing authority being the other defining characteristic of the Westphalian state, they have also relinquished sovereignty over their biggest companies, which are de facto exempt from taxation.

This is how the weakening of the nation-state looks like: not a dozen new Athens or Florences, but weakened tax bases and fractal gang wars over surrendered state territories and functions, streamed live.