Johannesburg — MANY South Africans were alarmed by last week's violent confrontation between soldiers and police officers in the grounds of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. After all, the organised coercive instruments of a modern state are not supposed to engage in running battles on the president's front lawn.
States vary widely in capacity and legitimacy, but beneath their consent-generating rituals (such as representative democracy) they share a common coercive character. Laws are passed, regulations are imposed, and taxes are levied. If citizens do not comply with the state's demands, they may be forcibly abducted, condemned, and sent away to prison. As mechanisms for enforcing collective decisions, states usually enjoy what social theorist Max Weber called a "monopoly of the legitimate use of violence".
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