HeavenlyPossum on Nostr: The problem is that this is a fantasy. The creation of a specialized institution of ...

The problem is that this is a fantasy. The creation of a specialized institution of violence inherently creates an unstable equilibrium: a group of people who purvey violence are not limited to exercising that power against just the people you want them to hurt. They might choose, instead, to hurt you.

This is something authoritarians understand, perhaps instinctively. You can try to induce violence professionals into obedience by offering them access to more resources than they could grab on their own (hence the feudal grant of land and rents to loyal retainers). You can try to coerce them into obedience by threatening them with a rival violence purveyor (hence the Nazi SS created to police the Wehrmacht or the IRGC to serve as a counterweight to the Iranian army).