Thomas Hobbes lived to the ripe old age of 91, an impressive achievement for one who lived in the most dangerous of times. 1 His long and eventful life coincided with one of the most turbulent and perilous periods in English history, marked by the execution of Charles I, the Civil Wars, the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, and finally the Stuart Restoration. It is perhaps this fact, above all, that explains Hobbes' abiding interest in securing the stability of the state, even to the neglect of international relations. From his very first writing, a translation of Thucydides' Peloponnesian Wars, to his major political works, such as Elements of Law (1640), De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651), to the posthumously published Dialogues (1681) and Behemoth (1682), his overriding concern was overcoming civil war and internal instability. This view gains some support from Hobbes himself. At the very end of his most well known work, Leviathan, Hobbes states that having completed his "Discourse of Civill and Ecclesiasticall Government, occassioned by the disorders of the present time," he will "return to my interrupted Speculation of Bodies Naturall; wherein (if God give me health to finish it,) I hope the Novelty will as much please, as in the Doctrine of this Artificiall Body it useth to offend." 2 From this account, it seems that Hobbes is primarily a political philosopher of domestic politics and only incidentally and indirectly a student of international relations. 3 We see this confirmed by Hobbes' claimed "Novelty" for his actions, boasting that he is the first to have founded politics on solid ground, the first political scientist. 4 He observes that just as "Time and Industry" produce new knowledge regarding the art of architecture, his new-found "Principles of Reason" set forth in "this discourse" will make the constitution of Commonwealths "(excepting by externall violence) everlasting." 5 Haig Patapan, The Glorious Sovereign: Thomas Hobbes on leadership and international relations, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan Representative," Hobbes explains why he does not discuss international politics extensively. The passage deserves quoting at length: Concerning the Offices of one Soveraign to another, which are comprehended in that Law, which is commonly called the Law of Nations, I need not say any thing in this place; because the Law of Nations, and the Law of Nature, is the same thing. And every Soveraign hath the same Right, in procuring the safety of his People, that any particular man can have, in procuring the safety of his own Body. And the same Law, that dictateth to men that have no Civil Government, what they ought to do, and what to avoyd in regard of one another, dictateth the same to Commonwealths , that is, to the Consciences of Soveraign Princes, and Soveraign Assemblies; there being no Court of Naturall Justice, but in Conscience onely; where not Man, but God raigneth. 8 This deceptively simple account suggests that international politics is identical to Hob...
