Such a federal state can be justified by claiming that the moral substance of traditional nation states has been deeply compromised by past belligerence, or as a practical preventive measure to keep the potential of new nationalist passions in check. Moreover, the British political scientist Glyn Morgan has argued that a robust concept of pan-European security also requires a pan-European state, and that it is irresponsible on the part of Europe’s elites to maintain a permanent position of strategic dependency on the United States.