Legacies have a thing about them. When left behind, for good or bad, legacies are always remembered. If legacies are the long-lasting impact of particular events, then the global leaders creating them sometimes forget that long after they are gone, they will be least remembered for who they were and what they did and most remembered for the long-lasting impact of their actions — their legacies. Some legacies have left a profound effect in the way that we live our lives today and as student of history I would like to highlight a few geopolitical legacies so that we don't forget that our journey as a nation state can become more worthwhile, fulfilling and rewarding if we keep these legacies in mind and learn the right lessons that history has taught us about them.

The 1648 Westphalian system of sovereign states gave birth to the modern nation-state system; the places we call our homelands and where we live. I consider it an important geopolitical legacy because it permanently transformed how the world is politically organised today. The legacy has not only lived on but cemented itself in creating a framework that even almost 400 years later values national borders, sovereignty and non-interference as principles of the Westphalian system, and which defines us as nation-states. The lesson from history is that borders, sovereignty and non-interference are state-level responsibilities and obligations, but a state alone cannot uphold Westphalian principles unless society supports it.

The second legacy is the Greek legacy of democracy. Had it not been for this legacy, the modern concepts of........

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