Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

large SIze is associated with lower levels
of performance.(67)
But i f 1 a r g e j uri s die t ion s are e con om i c a I I Y and
socially irrational, they would not be supported on the
free market. And if that is the case, the scenario
depicted in the Nozick-Hospers critique could not
o c cur. Not 0 n 1 y i s the r e no e con om i ereas 0 n to
expect the emergence of a dominant agency, if the
foregoing studies are correct the optimal size might be
such tha t the number of agenc i es opera t i ng in the
te?ritorial United States would actually increase.
[2] The Aggression Argument.
Another criticism is that there would be nothing
to prevent an agency from using force to conquer or
absorb weaker agencies until it attained a position of
u n c h a lIe n g e d d 0 miance, wh i chiteou 1d thenuse to ex ­
plo it its subjects. In contrast to the previous objection,
the Mafia Agency would achieve its domiance
through aggression rather than economic competition.
While not specifically directed at anarchism, this is
the cr iticisrn that George Berkley and Douglas Fox raise
against any decentralized political system. Germany's
Weimar Republic, they point out, rested on a federal
ba s e. Mos t German s ta tes out lawed the Naz i Par ty, but
Bavaria did not. "This gave the Nazis a sectional base
on which to build. Then, when they did become a
nationwide movement, they found that the individual
governments of the states ••.were each too weak to curb
their frequently unruly and unlawful tactics. There
were thirty-three police forces in Germany at the time
and the Nazi Party soon became stronger than anyone of
them." In contrast, the French government was centralized
and acted with vigor. With a single police force
for the entire country it was able to take decisive
act ion a g a ins t the a t t emptedNa z iand Corom un i s t t a ke ­
overs of 1934.(68)
T his i san i n t ere s tin g c r i tic i sm. Wha tis the
.anarchist reply? The anarchist believes that the forego
i n g ish i g h I Y un I ike I y and rna i n t a ins, in fa c t, t hat
violence, or any use of force, would probably decline
in an anarchy. What is the basis for this conclusion?
The anarchist begIns with the assumption that most
people are opposed to aggression. "In a profound
sen s e ," remark s Rot h bar d, Tl nos 0 cia I s ystem, wh e the r
anarchist or statist, can work at all unless most
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