The Private Production of Defense

Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a standout pupil of Murray Rothbard and now the foremost Austrian social theorist, is no stranger to seemingly insurmountable theoretical problems. In work after work, Hoppe has made remarkably pioneering insights into social order and the free market.

In The Private Production of Defense, Hoppe takes on one the most difficult subjects in economic and political theory: the provision of security. Addressing those who would claim that only the state can and should supply society with the service of protection, Hoppe argues that in fact it is better provided by free markets than government. In the process he tackles a hundred counterarguments. Here we have an important and exhilarating update and refinement of an argument rarely made even in the libertarian tradition.

And the stakes are high for us. As Hoppe states, "Without the erroneous public perception and judgment of the state as just and necessary and without the public's voluntary cooperation, even the seemingly most powerful government would implode and its powers evaporate. Thus liberated, we would regain our right to self-defense and be able to turn to freed and unregulated insurance agencies for efficient professional assistance in all matters of protection and conflict resolution."