The necessity of a sovereign.

The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes is more relevant than ever because of Iraq. By sovereign I don't mean a king or dictator, I mean any unifying representation of the nation which accumulates power through it's ability to enforce justice.

The Leviathan? That's Hobbes's social contract, he didn't believe the government had an obligation to do anything but preserve life, and that a government was free to do whatever it liked beyond that. It could oppress all it wanted and the people wouldn't have the right to rebel and reform new government so long as it was preserving life. Locke's Second Treatise of civil government was a far better social contract.