The Ungoverned
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The Ungoverned (1985) is a novella by Vernor Vinge, set between his novels The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime (and later published with them in one volume as Across Realtime).
The framework is the story of the "Republic" of New Mexico (NMR) invading the peaceful anarcho-capitalist utopia in Kansas. The NMR creates a military fiasco by completely failing to understand the cultural differences — including the amount of self protection a lone Kansas farmer may have.
The main protagonist is Wil W. Brierson, a detective/insurance agent, who attempts to disrupt the invasion while trying to minimize the property damage (and thus claims his company might have to pay out) and bridge the cultural gap. Brierson is also the protagonist of Marooned in Realtime.
