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The mythology of “state-as-savior” and democratic control do not line up with empirical historical research. Rather than saving people from violence, historians have shown that state-making first and foremost arose out of organizing to fight wars. William Cavanaugh has used these historical studies to argue that the nation-state is not “the keeper of the common good” as social contract theories presuppose. Instead the nation-state usurps group loyalties and fragments attempts at real community.
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- Andy Alexis-Baker (‘The Myth of the State As Savior and Elections as Confession of Faith’)
