Anarchy is simply absence of government in society. It is societal statelessness. However, the confusion is over what qualifies as a government. When a group of people asserts authority over a few people, is the first group a government? That gets tricky. Five people asserting authority with no help from anybody and making rules for three people would not be a government, but five people with a large system of support forcing millions of people to follow their rules would be a government, or part of one. What qualifies as a government is a relevant issue, so everybody please work that into the discussion if you want to.

The major issue I raised is pretty open ended. How could anarchy (a societal situation of no government) work? I presented a very specific scenario for people to work with, but the major issue can be addressed without the story being addressed. If there are any people in here who call yourselves anarchists, tell us how you think society should work. People in here who think government is necessary, please explain why. That is the theme of this thread.

Do we need government? Why or why not?