[extropy-chat] A Stateless Civilization?

Technotranscendence neptune at superlink.net
Mon Dec 5 00:05:54 UTC 2005


On Sunday, December 04, 2005 6:55 PM Joseph Bloch
transhumanist at goldenfuture.net wrote:
> I'll go with Mirriam-Webster definition 1a for
> purposes of this discussion:
>
> "A politically organized body of people
> usually occupying a definite territory;
> /esp/ One that is sovereign"
>
>  From what I know about Commonwealth-
> era Iceland (which is quite considerable),
> it satisfies that definition of statehood.
>
> What's your definition of "state", in this context?

An institution having a monopoly on the use of legitimate force in a
given geographic area.  (As a corollary, in any contest between it and
its subjects, it [the state] decides the outcome -- i.e., no one inside
it has the legal right to appeal to an authority outside it.  If it
ceases to have this power, then it ceases to be a state.)

Regards,

Dan
http://uweb1.superlink.net/~neptune/




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