Government is whoever has the most ability to inflict violence. Whether that's a group of elected politicians who follow a Constitution or a band of thugs, either way, whoever has the most ability to inflict violence IS the government. A government's sovereignty extends so far as its ability to inflict violence and hence to enforce its rules. Government is monopolistic by its nature. Two organizations cannot possibly both have the most ability to inflict violence in a given area. That's logically impossible. When two organizations are competing to see who has the most ability to inflict voilence in an area, that's called war. When the competition is over, there is a winner, and the winner becomes the government.
No matter what, there will always be a government. Even a man living alone on an island is his own government. He has more ability to inflict violence than anyone else, and hence he is sovereign. No matter where you go or what conditions prevail, there will always be one person or group of people who have the most ability to inflict violence.
The question is not whether or not this group exists. It always will. The question is, what's the best government that can exist, and how do we get it? The answer is that the ideal form of government is whatever form does the best job of enforcing civil rights.
Somalia's government is the local warlords and their soldiers / mercenaries.
I'll take a Somalian mini-government over the US govt any day. The Somalian strongmen only demand about 5% tax tops. Compare that to taxes in the land of the free *hearty laugh*
As for there will always be a government, thats just not true. I can give examples from history:
Medieval Ireland: Anarchic. Very successful society, perhaps the most advanced and prosperous in Europe.
Iceland (around year 1000 maybe): Almost completely anarchic, they had a system of private law which lasted about 300 years. Mind you these people were your typical brutal barbarians. How long did the American republic last before descending into tyranny? Less than 100 years imo.
"Wild" West: Government existed in name only. Lower per capita crime rate than the east coast. Private arbitration.
Somalia: No central government. Vast improvements in standard of living after Barre's regime was brought down. US and UN continue to cause violence there as the various "warlords" compete to own the new government and thus be able to continue their crimes of looting and killing in a legitimized way. Private law via the Xeer.
* Life expectancy increased from 46 to 48.5 years. This is a poor expectancy as compared with developed countries. But in any measurement of welfare, what is important to observe is not where a population stands at a given time, but what is the trend. Is the trend positive, or is it the reverse?
* Number of one-year-olds fully immunized against measles rose from 30 to 40 percent.
* Number of physicians per 100,000 population rose from 3.4 to 4.
* Number of infants with low birth weight fell from 16 per thousand to 0.3 — almost none.
* Infant mortality per 1,000 births fell from 152 to 114.9.
* Maternal mortality per 100,000 births fell from 1,600 to 1,100.
* Percent of population with access to sanitation rose from 18 to 26.
* Percent of population with access to at least one health facility rose from 28 to 54.8.
* Percent of population in extreme poverty (i.e., less than $1 per day) fell from 60 to 43.2.
* Radios per thousand population rose from 4 to 98.5.
* Telephones per thousand population rose from 1.9 to 14.9.
* TVs per 1,000 population rose from 1.2 to 3.7.
* Fatalities due to measles fell from 8,000 to 5,600.
