An essential function of every state is to protect the lives and property of its citizens, but it is not a sole purpose for states to wage wars. When states go to war, their aim is often rather to protect their own constitutions or to change the form of government of their enemies. In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s understanding, ‘The principle of life of the body politic and, so to speak, the heart of the state, is the social pact which, as soon as it is injured, causes the state instantly to die.’1 States exist to protect their citizens, but to sustain their...
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