Enforced covenants require a sovereign power to prevent collapse into war

Evidence

The covenant is not, as afterwards in Locke and Rousseau, between the citizens and the ruling power; it is a covenant made by the citizens with each other to obey such ruling power as the majority shall choose. … When the government has been chosen, the citizens lose all rights except such as the government may find it expedient to grant. There is no right of rebellion, because the ruler is not bound by any contract, whereas the subjects are. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2023

Categorization

• XREF: XREF Connects to Hobbes’s theory of the social contract in political philosophy. — connects to: State sovereignty is defined and limited by existing international rules. — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 522; Sovereignty inherently contradicts its protective mandate by holding power of death. — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 557; State power requires mobilized bodies and collapses without them — Grégoire Chamayou, A Theory of the Drone, 697 (+5 more)
• DEFINE: DEFINE Explains Hobbes’s view that covenants require enforcement mechanisms.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2023

Broader Connections

• State power derives from sovereign capabilities, not merely economic wealth #expands (0.82) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 181
• Legal obligation differs from mere coercion by threat of force #qualifies (0.70) — Ronald M. Dworkin, The Model of Rules, 40
• Hegemony is an unstable equilibrium that dominant forces must continually resecure #complicates (0.60)
• Subtler punishment masked sovereign power rather than making it more humane #complicates (0.50)