Minarchism is a libertarian political philosophy which advocates for the State to exist solely to protect citizens from aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud. Minarchists generally propose that the only legitimate governmental institutions are the military, police, and courts. However, some advocates propose fire departments, prisons, the executive, and legislatures as legitimate government functions. Such states are regarded as night-watchman states.
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Philosophy
Minarchists argue that it is malum in se for a government to interfere in transactions between people by taxing for services not directly related to the protection of citizens.
Some minarchists argue that a state is inevitable, thus believing anarchy to be futile. Minarchists justify the necessity of the state on the grounds that private defence agencies and courts could be biased by unevenly representing the interests of higher paying clients. Robert Nozick, who publicized the idea of a minimal state in Anarchy, State, and Utopia, argued that a night watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights, and is therefore morally justifiable.
Minarchists believe a laissez-faire economy is not only the best system ethically, but also pragmatically. They contend that exceedingly low tax rates as a result of minimal government institutions allows for economic benefits.
Criticism
Anarcho-capitalists argue that governments are malum in se in their nature and violate the non-aggression principle arguing that the market should supply all goods and services. Anarcho-capitalists criticize state sanctioned monopolies, citing them as corrupt and inefficient due to their ability to artificially limit competing services via laws and regulations.
Social anarchists criticize the state as being founded around the protection of private property and the mode of production that surrounds it. Thus, the minarchist state is a reductionist form of the welfare state, and not substantially different in purpose. Social anarchists argue that only with the abolition of the state can truly just economic relations and prosperity arise.
Proponents of an economically interventionist state argue it is best to evaluate the merits of government intervention on a case-by-case basis in order to address recessions (see Keynesian economics) or existential threats.
Social liberals and social democrats argue that a government should be able to appropriate private wealth in order to better reach a society-wide optimum (as opposed to each actor sub-optimizing for themselves). Those exact obligations of the state to its citizens are decided by consensus and ultimately the parliamentarian democratic process. This may include ensuring care for disadvantaged or dependent people such as the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, immigrants, the homeless, and the poor.
Social conservatives argue that the state should maintain a moral outlook and legislate against behavior commonly regarded as culturally destructive or immoral, proposing that the state cannot survive if its citizens do not have civic virtue.