Thomas Hobbes

Leviathan, published in 1651, responds to the danger of civil war and political breakdown. Hobbes argues that people need a powerful sovereign to escape the violent insecurity of the state of nature.

The state of nature is Hobbes's thought experiment about life without a common political authority. In Leviathan he describes it as insecure and violent because there is no shared power strong enough to enforce peace.

Hobbes gives the sovereign very broad authority because his central fear is civil conflict. Locke, writing later, argues more strongly for limited government, property rights, and the people's right to resist tyranny.

Hobbes is often read as defending strong monarchy, but his core argument is broader: there must be an effective sovereign authority. The sovereign can take different forms as long as it can keep peace and enforce the social contract.