The Use & Abuse of Hobbes: The State of Nature in International Relations

The near anarchy of international relations has led many students to look to the national society for remedies on the assumption that the condition of the state is analogous to that of man in the state of nature. Not surprisingly, the search for a solution has frequently turned to the logic of Hobbes's analysis of the human condition in the Leviathan and his prescription for moving into organized society. In this article Mark Heller shows the misleading implications of that analogy. Not only does it distort the Hobbesian logic, but it is bound practically to raise unrealistic expectations ending in frustration.