Stuart Hampshire: Spinoza - An Introduction to his Philosophical Thought:
The argument by which Spinoza justifies obedience to civil or state
authority as reasonable is essentially the same argument as that by which
in this century obedience to international authority is generally
recommended; it is the familiar argument of 'collective security', which is
an appeal to enlightened self-interest.
The only method of avoiding war, whether between individuals or nations, is
to gather a group of individuals or of nations which will in fact possess
sufficient force to deter any potential aggressor.
The interantionalists who used this argument assumed that all nations in
fact pursue the indefinite extension of their own power and freedom of
action; their starting-point was the same as Spinoza's.
It is in the interest of any nation to accept the decisions of the
international authority, even if this involves some sacrifice of national
soverignty and independence, in order to avoid the great loss of power and
freedom which is involved in war and in the fear of war.
Therefore the first aim of a rational foreign policy must be to ally
oneself with that group of nations which is powerful enough, if acting
together, to constitute an international authority; and generally one must
uphold its decisions, even when, considered individually and on their
merits, its decisions are repugnant; for anything is better than a relapse
into war and the fear of war.
It is irrational to resist the edicts of the international authority, even
when they involve some limitation of purely national soverighty, except in
the extreme case of these edicts threatening the very survival of the nation.
This familiar and respectable argument is pure Spinozism, applied to
international society instead of to civil society."
page 141, Penguin Books, 1951, revised 1962 and 1988.
