Bacon’s reasoning may appear archaic, but it continues to animate the workings of empire to this day. In essence he was making the argument that a well-governed country (“any nation that is civil and policed”) has an absolute right to invade countries that are “degenerate” or in violation of the “laws of nature and nations.” This is, of course, the fundamental doctrine of “liberal interventionism,” and it has been invoked many times in recent decades to justify “wars of choice” launched by Western powers.
