CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. International Studies
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1553534
International Anarchy? Modern Adoption of Hobbes's State of Nature
Provisionally accepted
- Walailak University, Tha Sala District, Thailand
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Many modern realist theorists within International Relations consider Hobbes's political ideas as the crucial "foundations of modern international thought" (Armitage 2006: 220) as well as regarding Hobbes as one of the founders of the realist tradition (Behr 2010: 115). Such theories incorporate Hobbes's concepts of 'the state of nature' and 'sovereign state' in their understandings of international politics. 1 In short, Hobbes' conception of the 'state of nature' refers to an hypothetical condition where there is no 'common power' or a sovereign state to govern individuals. Under such a condition, each individual is in a perpetual fear of being harmed by everyone, which Hobbes deems the 'state of war', as there is no supreme authority to judge on disputes or any laws to adhere to. Hence, the state of nature is considered an anarchical condition where everyone can do anything in order to survive and ensure their existence (Hobbes 1996: 82-86). 2 Hobbes' notions of the state of nature and sovereign state underpin certain key and fundamental premises of realism, which posit that, due to the lack of common authority, relations between states are caught in a realm of anarchy (Wight 1991: 7) where morality becomes irrelevant (Morgenthau 1965: 5; Wight 1991: 16-17). Within such a 'moral vacuum,' states are justified in disregarding moral considerations and can conduct power-maximising practices to survive under such harsh anarchic conditions (Mearsheimer 2001: 32-34). By referring his understanding of international political phenomena to the political thought of a theorist from several centuries ago like Hobbes, Morgenthau deems realist accounts of international politics congruent with human nature and thus have a quality of transhistorical universal truth (Morgenthau 1965: 4-5). However, the way in which modern realist scholars make connections between their views of international politics and Hobbes's political thought is problematic. Armitage (2006: 220-221) demonstrates that the interpretations of Hobbes' political thought
Keywords: Thomas Hobbes, State of Nature, international anarchy, realism, constructivism
Received: 30 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Monthathip. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Krishna Monthathip, Walailak University, Tha Sala District, Thailand
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