"Monopoly on violence" always sounds scary, but the alternative is what... A duopoly on violence? It's worth reading Njal's Saga from Iceland. They had a govern

"Monopoly on violence" always sounds scary, but the alternative is what... A duopoly on violence? It's worth reading Njal's Saga from Iceland. They had a government with no monopoly on violence, and the saga is essentially about an endless blood feud. Short of eliminating violence altogether, restricting it to one institution, that is democratically controlled, may be the best that we can hope for. Only a single "owner" of violence has a chance of keeping it at bay.