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Machiavelli: War As The Prince’s Profession
- Machiavelli argued that the ruler's primary role is warcraft and that a state must maintain military capacity.
- He favored citizen militias tied to political legitimacy over unruly mercenaries.
War Built Modern State Institutions
- The rise of professional armies forced rulers to raise taxes and build representative bodies to fund war.
- State institutions like parliaments partly grew from the fiscal demands of warfare.
Hobbes’ War Or Law Dichotomy
- Hobbes defined the state of nature as a condition of war where law is absent and rational sovereign power is the cure.
- For Hobbes the choice is conceptual: law replaces war through a sovereign-crafted civil order.