Night-watchman state

As a term, night-watchman state () was coined by German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle in an 1862 speech in Berlin wherein he criticized the bourgeois-liberal limited government state, comparing it to a nightwatchman. The phrase quickly caught on as a description of capitalist government, even as liberalism began to mean a more involved state, or a state with a larger sphere of responsibility. Ludwig von Mises later opined that Lassalle tried to make limited government look ridiculous, but it was no more ridiculous than governments that concerned themselves with "the preparation of sauerkraut, with the manufacture of trouser buttons, or with the publication of newspapers". Proponents of the night-watchman state are minarchists, a portmanteau of minimum and -archy. Arche (; ) is a Greek word which came to mean "first place, power", "method of government", "empire, realm", "authorities" (in plural: ), or "command". The term minarchist was coined by Samuel Edward Konkin III in 1980. == Philosophy ==

Right-libertarian minarchists generally justify the state as a logical consequence of the non-aggression principle. Another common objection to anarchism is that private defense and court firms would tend to represent the interests of those who pay them enough. Left-libertarian minarchists justify the state as a temporary measure on the grounds that social safety will net benefit the working class. Some anarchists, such as Noam Chomsky, are in agreement with social democrats on the importance of welfare measures, but prefer using non-state methods. Left-libertarians such as Peter Hain are decentralists who do not advocate abolishing the state, Some minarchists argue that a state is inevitable because anarchy is futile. Robert Nozick, who publicized the idea of a minimal state in Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), argued that a night-watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights and therefore morally justifies the existence of a state. Nozick believed minarchy will arise as a consequence of anarcho-capitalism, as a private defense agency (PDA) will eventually become a monopoly and function as a sort of small state within an anarcho-capitalist system. == See also ==