Raison d'Etat, on the other hand, accepts that every state has its interests and consequently has to defend these interests, and to defend themabsolutelyhut the state's obje<:tive must not be that ofreturning to the unifying position ofa total and global empire at the end of time. It must not dream that one day it will be the empire ofthe lastday. Each state must limit its objectives, ensure its inde= pendence, and ensure that its forces are such that it will never be in an inferior position with respect to the set ofother countries, or to its neighbors, or to the strongest of all the other countries (there are different theories of European balance at this tie, but that's not important here).

Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, loc. 154