The previous post's assertion about a nation's self interests driving policy is critically vital. In Rousseau's thought, the goal of all policy and government is to create a realm of proper self love that acknowledges one's own self not in competition with others but in a full cooperation of self. This "amour propre" is what should allow all nations to exist with itself and coexist with others. However, Rousseau understands that individuals are filled with a type of self love that seeks to appropriate other elements in accordance to its own subjectivity because it sees itself through the eyes of others, not itself. Individuals, and consequently nations, that are filled with this type of love, "amour de soi," will constantly seek to appropriate that which is accordance to its own subjectivity because it is viewing itself through the perpetually discontented eyes of itself. At this point, individuals and nations are in competition with others, against one another, and immersed in a state of nation that is "brutish." If nations can define themselves in accordance to amour propre, embracing a general will where all nations are able to enhance this proper self love away from an unhealthy individualistic and atomistic conception of self, foreign policy will work towards a greater good. Bearing this in mind, it would be interesting to see if Rousseau would embrace collective governing bodies like the United Nations, that see foreign nations relations as a collective identity, where Rousseauian amour propre can be maximized and the individualistic and isolating amoour de soi can be removed.
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