Fallacies in the Theories of the Emergence of the State

The theory of the emergence of the State both in public choice literature and in neoclassical economics assumes that social interaction is prone to “failure” on the model of neoclassical “market failure” theory. It assumes a state of nature, an anarchist utopia, as James M. Buchanan has termed it. In the language of game theory, three sorts of social dilemma must be solved to achieve a stable society: the coordination game, the prisoners’ dilemma, and the chicken game.

Volume 20, Number 3 (2006)