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.

Each state pursues its own interest's, however defined, in ways it judges best. Force is a means of achieving the external ends of states because there exists no consistent, reliable process of reconciling the conflicts of interest that inevitably arise among similar units in a condition of anarchy.

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

The most important causes of political arrangements and acts are found in the nature and behavior of man.

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

The transitory interests of royal houses may be advanced in war; the real interests of all people are furthered by the peace.

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