HOBBES AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE MODERN INTERNATIONAL THOUGHT

This article tries to explain how Hobbes came to be accepted as a foundational figure in the history of international thought as a consecuence of his identification of the international arena with a state of nature populated by fearful and competitive actors. The author points out that Hobbes's reflections on the state in its international capacity are more expansive than could be inferred from most treatments of the subject and carries out a survey on the afterlife of his international thought from the seventeenth century, demonstrating that it was only in the twentieth century when he assumed such a canonical place, once a consensus had emerged that the international realm was indeed anarchic. However, Hobbes did not directly inspire this conception of the relations between states, but it was its proponents who invoked him to support their theory because Hobbes thought that the international state of nature was not equivalent to the interpersonal one, given that though states could be just as fearful and competitive as individuals in their relations with one another, they were not so vulnerable nor did this condition of anarchy prevent international cooperation.