Abstract
Pufendorf argued that it was impossible for men to construct now or in the future a universal society adequate to their higher conceptions of natural law. Self-regarding conduct, the primordial fact of social diversity, the inalienable right of free association and the sheer size of the human race itself contributed to making a universal civil society impossible. All men could not be brought together within a single society with the authority to make determinate and secure their common natural rights and duties.
It will perhaps be said that society is so formed that every man gains by serving the rest. That would be all very well, if he did not gain still more by injuring them. (Rousseau)
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Notes and References
‘The division of Europe into a number of independent states, connected, however, with each other by the general resemblance of religion, language and manners, is productive of the most beneficial consequences to the liberty of mankind.’ Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1 (revised and edited by H. H. Milman) (London, 1890) p. 58.
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© 1982 Andrew Linklater
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Linklater, A. (1982). Vattel’s Society of States. In: Men and Citizens in the Theory of International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16692-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16692-3_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-16694-7
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