The Territorial Assumption: Rationale for Conquest

The classic definition of the State involves two elements: a coercive monopolization of defense services over a given geographic area, and the imposition of coercive revenue collection from all of the area’s inhabitants. As Murray Rothbard has pointed out, even if taxes were voluntary, the libertarian must still oppose state control over protective services. By what right does the State prohibit competition in the production of security? By what right does the State force the pacifist or libertarian to subscribe to its service?

Volume 22, Number 1 (2010)