Government is Incomplete Conquest

... are alleged to provide their electorates with choice. Cynics might object that, while elections give an electorate the feeling that they have choice, this is only an illusion... ... surrender all their rights to an absolute sovereign who would ensure peace and order. John Locke put forward a more palatable view of the social contract, much closer to... ... at least those holding the guns and those managing the gun-holders. Foundations of legitimacy have varied greatly across the many kinds of regimes that have existed throughout...