Introduction

The power state uses coercion as the only means of influence. The parliamentary state uses persuasion rather than coercion, which makes it the superior type of state. In war coercion predominates, endangering the element of persuasion in the parliamentary state, which then above all must seek to propagate the principle of persuasion. The man who coerces his neighbour with the clenched fist has only one object on which to work, namely the body of his neighbour, and only one aim for his work, the seizure of the latter’s powers. A nation which undertakes to form itself into a state has always deemed it necessary to create for itself an organ like the fist for the purpose of coercion, whether this be applied inside or outside the body of the state. War is for a power state the very realization of its nature; for a parliamentary state, the most threatening menace to its development.