Practice question · Multiple choice
Weber defined the state by its monopoly on legitimate violence. Which word in that formula is doing the most analytic work?
Hints
- A gang also controls violence in its territory. Ask what it lacks.
- Which word would you remove to turn the definition into a description of a mafia?
Show the answer
D. Legitimate, since bandits also use violence
Why
Remove legitimacy and the definition covers any armed group, so the concept turns on recognised right rather than physical capacity. Monopoly is real but relative, states license private security and permit self-defence, while the claim to be the source of that permission is what makes them states.
Practise Political Organization
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