Garrett 대 희 “Dae Hee” Edmark 

Sept. 17, 2023, 7:59AM 

Building upon 'The Melian Dialogue' through the works of Charles Tilly (and Thomas Hobbes.)

The natural state of man is described by Thomas Hobbes as “a war of every man against every man,” noting the qualities of life within a society void of a social contract (i.e. the natural state) as “nasty, brutish and short.” War, as a concept, is not confined to cultural, religious or (inter)national conflict. Not all wars involve military weaponry/forces; Rather, war is a state of intense conflict. One could be at war with another state in the same way one could be at war with their neighbor. Hobbes’ Leviathan heavily influenced Tilly’s published work “National Self-Determination as a Problem for All of Us.” Tilly implies that the foundation in the development of modern states is the natural state, continuing Tilly describes the development of modern states as the preparation for war. Development is the product of survival. During the Peloponnesian War, The state of Athens sent representatives to the island of Melos as means to offer the Melians the choice of Athenian colonization or colonization via Athenian invasion. Thucydides documented the interaction which was later recognized as, “The Melian dialogue.” The story is recognized academically as a documentation of the perspective between the blind & powerful and the prideful & powerless. The resources, power, land, military size & skill available to the state of Athens depicted the Athenian offering of non-violent colonization as an act of mercy; however, the state of Melos saw the offering as an act of humiliation and rather an offering of shame. The island of Melos chose to defend its sovereignty from the state of Athens and in turn saw every Melian man killed and every Melian woman and child taken during the siege. The state that was better prepared for war had won. This serves as a perfect example to explain Tilly’s theory of development in modern states as war has existed well before the Peloponnesian War and will exist well beyond it. The state best equipped to weather warfare will survive and the state will develop as a result, Tilly argues that the preparation for war is coexistent in the survival & development of a modern state.