4️⃣ The Core Functions of the State
Description
Analysis of the sovereign functions of the State from the Austrian perspective.
Transcript
Now we know why people need to work, why private property is essential, and how what we produce is exchanged for money.
However, a problem appears…
While everyone is working, trading, and producing, who takes care of security? Who makes sure that the rule of private property is respected?
So the villagers decide to organize themselves. You will make sure no one steals or destroys other people’s property. You will settle disputes. And you will stand guard around the village.
But since these people cannot bake bread, cut planks, fish, or hunt at the same time, everyone contributes a little money to pay them.
This is how the State appears, with three essential missions, called the core (sovereign) functions of the State.
First function: justice. When a conflict breaks out - a theft, a broken promise, a contract that isn’t honored - there must be an impartial referee. Without justice, it’s the law of the strongest. With justice, everyone can act with confidence.
Second function: the police. Justice sets the rules, but they still have to be enforced. The police protect people and property, and prevent violence from taking over.
Third function: defense. Because a society can also be threatened from the outside. Defense protects the territory and the population from external attacks.
These three functions - justice, police, and defense - form the core of the State.
To pay those who carry out these missions, societies collect taxes. And sometimes also to maintain public goods: roads, bridges, schools, or even hospitals.
How much power and responsibility is given to the State - more or less - is always a choice made by society. And each country sets that balance in its own way.