ABSTRACT
The received wisdom once stated that anarcho-capitalism would collapse into Thomas Hobbes's state of nature, with life nasty, short, and brutish. Like most advocates of libertarian anarchy, David Friedman wishes to have it both ways. Friedman assumes that the adjudication network need not implement violence or the threat of violence against noncooperators. Friedman thinks that outlaw firms will lose customers because of competitive market forces. Friedman also thinks that an anarcho-capitalist society would be safer from a power grab than a government. He cites ideology as the relevant constraint in both cases—"The restraints which prevent a military coup are essentially restraints interior to the men with guns." Friedman portrays government officials as more power-hungry than businessmen and thus more dangerous. Friedman thinks that there will be a very large number of protection agencies, thus making collusion more difficult.
