Natural Law Constitutionalism Reason of State and War CounterReformation Spanish Political Thought Volumes I and II aims at understanding how Spanish thinkers in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries approached the emerging institution of the state. Both volumes are divided evenly into four distinct but related parts that cover the Spaniards central concerns. In the first part a fundamental question is asked Is the state a natural institution In the second the theme is determining the best form of government. The third part is concerned with the imperative need to define the ethical boundaries beyond which the state must not trespass. Finally the fourth part examines the question of war as an instrument of policy.