Rival protection firms seek monopoly or peace and fear endless war

Evidence

Thus, the state of equilibrium to which both M1 and M2 aspire is represented either by the first possibility (the acquisition of a complete monopoly by eradicating the opponent) or by the third (the absence of intervention). What neither wants is the second possibility, a state of potentially permanent warfare in which no one prevails. The fact that they do not want this outcome, however, does not mean that it will never happen. Thus, the attempt to avoid this undesirable eventuality may lead to some form of organization. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 186

Categorization

• XREF: Directly instantiates Gambetta’s private protection market model the reader is using to map the Corleone family’s equilibrium-seeking behavior in The Godfather. — connects to: Monopolies themselves depend on continuing inter-monopoly struggle. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 613