States in the world are like individuals in the state of nature. They are neither perfectly good nor are they controlled by law.

If we gather more and more data and establish more and more associations, however, we will not finally find that we know something. We will simply end up having more and more data and larger sets of correlations.

Then what explains war among states? Rousseau's answer is really that war occurs because there is nothing to prevent it.

To build a theory of international relations on accidents of geography and history is dangerous.

In a zero-sum game, the problem is entirely one of distribution, not at all one of production.

It is not true that were the Soviet Union to disappear the remaining states could easily live in peace.

War most often promotes the internal unity of each state involved. The state plagued by internal strife may then, instead of waiting for the accidental attack, seek the war that will bring internal peace.