Each man does seek his own interest, but, unfortunately, not according to the dictates of reason.

External pressure seems to produce internal unity.

To solve these problems one needs as much an understanding of politics as an understanding of man - and the one cannot be derived from the other.

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.

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.

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

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