Very few governments in the world have an absolute monopoly on violence. Most countries allow some private ownership of weapons, have self defense laws and/or h

Very few governments in the world have an absolute monopoly on violence. Most countries allow some private ownership of weapons, have self defense laws and/or have private security companies. Many countries also allow private mercenary forces that can operate outside their borders. People like to assume that governments and corporations are inherently incompatible, but that’s just not true. A government is just whichever organization(s) has the most power within a geographical region and a company can very easily become the de facto government in an area if its power is unchecked. For the most prominent historical example of this look at the East India Government: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company From a contemporary perspective there are plenty of examples of large multinationals effectively controlling and directing smaller, less wealthy governments. Even in big countries with strong governments, the influence of large corporations on what laws get passed and how they are enforced can become significant.