As Machiavelli explained it, one of the roles of a Prince is to acquire as much territory and to colonize, which essentially one of the roles of the state to acquire economic power and expansion. Machiavelli states that the chief foundations of all states were good laws and good arms, without which a state could not hope to exist, since it could not preserve order (Machiavelli, pg.72). By good laws, the state, or rather, the prince, should be miserly, because "niggardliness is one of those vices which enable him to reign" (Machiavelli, pg. 87), for by spending less, he makes the state rich, whereby he can conduct wars without burdening his people, thereby avoiding rebellion and revolt. Essentially, the role of the state in Machiavelli's economy is to keep the people content and to make the state richer. .
In comparison to Machiavelli, Hobbes defines the role of the state on a social perspective as well. In Leviathan, Hobbes explicitly sets out his moral and political philosophy with regard to human nature, the state of nature and an absolute sovereign in whom the power of the people is invested. Like Polanyi, Hobbes finds people to make irrational decisions, especially for sake of self-interest. Men are distinct, he says, in that they are concerned with glory – wherefore bees and ants there is no difference between the public and the private gain, men are concerned with their gain as individuals, and in relation to that of other men. "And consequently among men", he contends, "there ariseth on that ground, envy, hatred, and finally war; but amongst these [ants and bees] not so" (Hobbes, pg.86). Hobbes finds that men are competitive, defiant and desire to be glorified, and it is the resultant self-interested acts of men that set out the foundations upon which Hobbes' vision of the state of nature is constructed. As a result, Hobbes finds it necessary for a sovereign arbiter.