Monopoly on violence
(Redirected from Monopoly on the legal use of force)
The monopoly on the legal use of force, monopoly on violence or monopoly on legitimate violence is the property of a polity or government/state that differentiates it for all over organizations in a given territory. This monopoly upholds a government's sovereignty and jurisdiction and makes it the only organization that can legally imprison, tax, etc. Without such coercion, a state ceases to be a state. The social contract theory suggests a government's monopoly on the legal use of force is derived from the consent of the governed.