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.

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 are to have peace, we must learn loyalty to a larger group. And before we can learn loyalty, the thing to which we are to be loyal must be created.

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