"According to Finlay, Hume's political theory is republican, in that it holds liberty to be a value we aspire to, yet consequentialist, in that particular schemes advancing liberty are restrained by their ability to maintain the 'peace and order' requisite to preservation of the social life already in place . This interpretation of Hume follows along an intriguing discussion of Hume's ongoing challenge to square the selfish tendencies of human nature with its propensity towards sociability. As Finlay correctly notes, the normative priority of Hume's 'commitment to the social' requires that a particular form of government preserve the social first and foremost, yet Hume's recognition of the selfish, avidity-driven tendencies of human nature requires also that people enjoy as much liberty as is compatible with the commitment to the social, where liberty is concerned primarily with 'those [liberties] enjoyed in the ownership and disposal of property and other goods and in the exercise of personal powers (such as wealth) in society.
"Finlay's treatment of this tension between the social and asocial aspects of human nature makes a significant contribution to the surprisingly small body of literature on this issue. Of particular note are his comparisons between Hobbes' and Hume's accounts of pride: Hobbes, of course, sees pride as contributing towards people's antisocial tendencies, whereas Hume sees pride as a social mechanism, bringing people together. The contrast between these two views is dramatic and certainly worthy of further exploration. "
from http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=12883
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