The Political Theology of Thomas Hobbes and the Theory of Interstate Society

Abstract

This chapter presents Thomas Hobbes as a theorist of interstate society. It does so by reinterpreting his political philosophy by recovering the theological dimension of his thought. In this respect, Hobbes’s political philosophy is, in fact, intelligible as a worldly application of a theological pattern. The central claim is that human beings make political order, both domestic and international, in the same way that God made the universe: through will and artifice. Recovering this theological dimension corrects what theorists of international relations typically derive from Hobbes. International anarchy does not reduce to unrestrained violence, and the impediments to cooperation are not as imposing as they are often made out to be. Rather, Hobbes’s theological commitments make possible irregular systems, leagues, and treaties, which are established to satisfy circumstantial ends.