No Coercion

I thought I would give my quick libertarian take on the recent Russo-Georgian War. Any libertarian analysis has to look at who is and isn’t violating the non-initiation of force principle. First, government is an illegitimate institution that violates individuals’ natural rights, so the people living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia had every right to declare themselves no longer under the authority of the Georgian government. Of course, any new government imposed by some the people in these regions on their fellow people, even if done “democratically” (i.e. tyranny of the majority) would be inherently illegitimate and deserving themselves of being overthrown. The Georgian government was wrong to attack these people–that was an initiation of force, which is morally unacceptable in a civilized world. The Russian government was wrong to attack the Georgian forces as a state military action (though it would have been morally permissable for private Russians to have helped Abkhazians or South Ossetians defend themselves, since it’s really the use of illegitimately confiscated tax dollars to pay for the military that violates the non-initiation of force principle and makes all government military action unjust, regardless of how well-intentioned).

So,  individual Abkhazians and South Ossetians–right; potential new governments in those regions–wrong; Georgian government–wrong; Russian government–wrong. I think that sums up my libertarian view of the Russo-Georgian War. What’s your take?

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