Steven Press:
Though it is not often thought of as a commodity, sovereignty resembles one in that it can be bought and sold. Indeed, the purchase of sovereignty was a primary vehicle of American expansion. In a series of treaties that helped create the United States of today, governments operated just like a business, buying and selling their jurisdiction through mergers and acquisitions that would make even today’s tycoons envious…
Source: Sovereignty can be bought and sold like a commodity | Aeon Ideas