The Gangster State by Charles Tilly

Charles Tilly, social scientist and prolific writer passed away six years ago this week.  From his New York Times obituary:

[Tilly] gave early indications of his argument that war made states in an article that said nation states, with their monopolies on violence, function like gangsters’ protection rackets. He said that governments emphasize, create and stimulate external threats, then ask their citizens to pay for defense.