Ideology status: Minarchism Definition of Minarchism: Minarchism (also known as minimal statism) is a libertarian capitalist political philosophy. It is a play off of the word Anarchism and used to define a category of what is perceived as libertarian (such as Libertarian Socialism.) In the strictest sense, it maintains that the state is necessary and that its only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud, and the only legitimate governmental institutions are the military, police, and courts. In the broadest sense, it also includes fire departments, prisons, the executive, and legislatures as legitimate government functions. Such states are generally called night-watchman states.
