Another quote to meditate on from The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. For some reason the last part of this sentence keeps echoing in my mind, that part of the definition of a sovereign state is that the state has sole proprietorship of legitimate violence within its boundaries. It is something I knew before, but I had never articulated in quite that manner.
“…is confident that an objective statistical analysis, shorn of sentiment, will show us to be living in an age of unprecedented peace and security. And this, he suggests, is the logical outcome of living in sovereign states, each with a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence within its borders…“
Well…not an earwig, but definitely a mental perseveration.