"Leviathan", Thomas Hobbes, England, 1651.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(book)
From the Wikipedia summary:
"[The] natural state of man is not to be found in a political community that pursues the greatest good. But to be outside of a political community is to be in an anarchic condition. Given human nature, the variability of human desires, and need for scarce resources to fulfill those desires, the state of nature, as Hobbes calls this anarchic condition, must be a war of all against all. Even when two men are not fighting, there is no guarantee that the other will not try to kill him for his property or just out of an aggrieved sense of honour, and so they must constantly be on guard against one another. It is even reasonable to preemptively attack one's neighbour."
The truth of Hobbes' "State of Nature" is still debated, for example in this thread, almost 500 years later. It's a well known idea in philosophy and politics.