Long term? There will not be enemy territory, there will not be multiple jurisdictions. Power, it would seem, naturally concentrates. One million nomadic groups to 10,000 tribes to 100 nations to four or five conglomerates. We have been in the endgame since the industrial revolution but AI will speedrun us to the end in decades, and perhaps years, not centuries.

"The mechanical development of weapons, transportation, and communication makes the conquest of the world technically possible, and they make it technically possible to keep the world in that conquered state. Its lack was the reason why great ancient empires, though vast, failed to complete universal conquest of their world and perpetuate the conquest. Now, however, this is possible. Technology undoes both geographic and climatic barriers. Today no technological obstacle stands in the way of a world-wide empire, as modern technology makes it possible to extend the control of mind and action to every corner of the globe regardless of geography and season."

- Hans Morgenthau

> What is being sovereign over a territory when an enemy drone swarm can just bomb your people on it anytime?

On the other hand, the defender has an advantage if the enemy also can't inhabit a particular territory. If territory is guaranteed to become a no-man's land for both sides, that reduces the incentive to invade in the first place. Therefore drone tech should function like nukes, they increase the lethality of war but decrease the desire to go to war in the first place.