 Given the lack of international institutions, Kant says, states must be considered to be in a state of nature relative to one another. Like individuals in the state of nature, then, they must be considered to be in a state of war with each other. Like individuals, the states are obligated to leave this state of nature to form some type of union under a social contract. Before the creation of some such union (see next paragraph), states do have a right to go to war against other states if another state threatens it or actively aggresses against it (6:346). But any declaration of war ought to be confirmed by the people “as colegislating members of a state” (6:345). Rulers who wage war without such consent are using their subjects as property, as mere means, rather than treating them as ends in themselves. This claim is one of Kant’s strongest statements that actual voting by citizens is required: citizens “must therefore give their free assent, through their representatives, not only to waging war in general but also to each particular declaration of war” (6:345–46). Once war has been declared, states are obligated to conduct the war under principles that leave open the possibility of an eventual league of states. Actions that undermine future trust between states, such as the use of assassination, are prohibited.