Although most people agree that some form of government is necessary, it was merely an assumption that had never been analyzed from an economic point of view. This collection presents book-length treatment by public choice economists on the role of government, and extends the research program.

Although most people agree that some form of government is necessary, until recently, it was merely an assumption that had never been analyzed from an economic point of view. This changed in the 1970s when economists at the Center for the Study of Public Choice engaged in a systematic exploration of the issue. This provocative collection, the first book-length treatment by public choice economists on the role of government, continues and extends the research program begun more than three decades ago.

1. Introduction
2. Individual Welfare in Anarchy
3. Jungle or Just Bush? Anarchy and the Evolution of Cooperation
4. The Edge of the Jungle
5. Social Interaction without the State
6. Towards a Theory of the Evolution of Government
7. Do Contracts Require Formal Enforcement?
8. Before Public Choice
9. Public Choice and Leviathan 10. Cases in Anarchy 11. Defining Anarchy as Rock-n-Roll: Rethinking Hogarty's Three Cases 12. Private Property Anarchism: An American Variant 13. Anarchism and the Theory of Power 14. Polycentrism and Power 15. Reflections After Three Decades 16. Anarchy 17. Tullock on Anarchy 18. Anarchism as a Progressive Research Program in Political Economy.