> What requires explanation is not the phenomenon of cooperation but
> that of a State. A State is defined as a territorial monopolist of
> ultimate decision making in the event of conflict (including
> conflicts involving itself); and implied in this power to exclude all
> others from acting as ultimate judge is its second defining element:
> the State's power to tax, i.e., to determine unilaterally the price
> that those seeking justice must pay for its services.
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"Apologists for particular governments and for government in general commonly argue, precisely, that they offer protection from local and external violence. They claim that the prices they charge barely cover the costs of protection. They call people who complain about the price of protection 'anarchists,' 'subversives,' or both at once." [Charles Tilly]