By Insula Qui
Author’s note: The main themes of this series will be further expounded upon in my upcoming book Anarcho-Monarchism, which will be available in April.
Introduction
In Part IV, the logistical question of merging the rule of the aristocracy with the absolute property held by each person was considered. To concede that individual sovereignty is invalid would effectively defeat all libertarian values. To concede that central sovereignty is invalid would defeat the purpose and role of statecraft. To resolve this, one must look to the nature of contracts. When multiple people sign a contract, they do so for a simple sociological reason. Reduced to economic terms, this reason is a desire to benefit from signing that contract. Whenever people sign contracts, they do so with the expectation of improving their own lives. From this, we can derive a theory of sovereignty that can remain valid without disproving either individual sovereignty or central sovereignty.
The Aristocracy and the Common Man
Other than personal profit, a common reason for establishing contracts is to reconcile multiple interests within society, the contract is the only institution that can make conflict into collaboration. This has two important implications. First, in a low-trust society, contracts ensure that the society is not in perpetual chaos, as they channel conflict into production. Second, it means that when people are already prone to collaboration, contracts become mostly redundant because interests are already synthesized.
If the interests of people are in a significant degree of conflict, the end result will be antagonism which will result in mutual violence. This has the potential to cause the destruction of a society. It may result in less destruction than nation-states have caused, but destruction should be avoided if possible. If nothing else, it provides a pressing need to reconsider libertarian assumptions and to provide a mechanism by which this type of destruction can be avoided.
However, this does not mean that libertarianism is only attainable when there is high trust. With proper use of contracts, even a society with conflicting interests can function. But this requires introducing a degree of central sovereignty into libertarianism. A contract must synthesize the individually sovereign owners of property into a larger managerial government. The government will assume managerial duties since the absolute owners of property wish to maintain a peaceful co-existence. The government must then sign a bilateral contract with the property owner to allow him the ability to ensure that any inherent conflict in society does not result in widespread chaos.
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