The mental gymnastics that people pull off to keep their conception of government justified and ethical is truly astounding. I fail to understand why it is that people have this need, barring some kind of childhood trauma that goes back generations. To readers of Hedley Bull and similar authors, this work should be a welcome addition. This is an analysis of power dynamics, the leviathan state, and private governance, all in one.
The very first paragraph goes into defining 4th generation warfare and how it changes the role of nation-state from a protector (its historical role) to more of a system for minimising externalities in a given language/ethnic area. I tend to agree with this definition of government - however, mr. Lipschutz pulls the same consequentialist arguments of Hobbes and Locke that do not address the ethical nature of the question (he does, to his credit, later concede the point that government is theft writ large).
In general, this book will put you in the head of a modern politician that's trying to justify his existence, much like the review I did on Monday. Scaremongering, lies, threats and outright fabrication will be used to continue the gravy-train that is modern government: private alternatives to government will be slandered and ruined in any way possible, and the book goes into detail as to how that will happen.
Overall, it's an intermediate read for those who want better governance and want to see what the world's pushback is going to look like: fast, dirty, and merciless (unlike the book, whose writing is slow, clean and at times obsequious).
7/10