Entire commonwealths remain in the state of nature relative to outsiders

Evidence

There is another power in every commonwealth, which one may call natural, because it is that which answers to the power every man naturally had before he entered into society: for though in a commonwealth the members of it are distinct persons still in reference to one another, and as such as governed by the laws of the society; yet in reference to the rest of mankind, they make one body, which is, as every member of it before was, still in the state of nature with the rest of mankind. Hence it is, that the controversies that happen between any man of the society with those that are out of it, are managed by the public; and an injury done to a member of their body, engages the whole in the reparation of it. So that under this consideration, the whole community is one body in the state of nature, in respect of all other states or persons out of its community. — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 182

Categorization

• XREF: This explains why Locke’s state of nature persists between sovereign states — directly relevant to international-law debates and to the Declaration’s framing of the US among the powers of the earth. — connects to: Foreign affairs cannot be governed by fixed antecedent laws — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 184; Neocolonialism keeps formally independent states economically and politically directed from outside — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 181; Colonies are essential structural extensions of the modern state — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 413

Broader Connections

• Neocolonialism keeps formally independent states economically and politically directed from outside #complicates (0.78) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 181
• Colonies are essential structural extensions of the modern state #qualifies (0.72) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 413