The Myth of National Defense

The Myth of National Defense is a book edited by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, published in 2003 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and contributed to by many prominent anarcho-capitalists, about the merits of replacing government defense agencies with private defense agencies.[1] Hoppe himself argues that it is dangerous to give monopoly power over the use of force to any entity, as there is then nothing to prevent it from being abused. The chapter by Larry J. Sechrest argues that privateering provides historical examples of how private defense forces were actually superior to government naval forces in many ways, including the well-being of the sailors; the less destructive nature of this sort of conflict; etc. Certain essays, such as the one by Murray Rothbard, were published in this book posthumously. Contrasting the book to Democracy: The God That Failed, Andy Duncan, notes, "Its one drawback is that it does lack the organic unity of the Professor's earlier book on democracy, mainly because he failed to write the whole thing himself."[2]

Contents

Table of contents

Section 1 – State-Making and War-Making

Section 2 – Government Forms, War, and Strategy

Section 3 – Private Alternatives to State Defense and Warfare

Related pages

References

  1. ^ The National Defense Myth, review by Lew Rockwell
  2. ^ National Defense, articles from a libertarian anarchist perspective, Libertarian Nation

External links