At one extreme in this debate, classical liberals have argued that
individuals should enjoy the widest possible liberty and have therefore
insisted that the state be confined to a minimal role. This minimal role is
simply to provide a framework of peace and social order within which
private citizens can conduct their lives as they think best. The state
therefore acts, as Locke put it, as a nightwatchman, whose services are
only called upon when orderly existence is threatened. This nevertheless
leaves the state with three important functions. The central function of the
‘minimal’ or ‘nightwatchman’ state is the maintenance of domestic order,
in effect, protecting individual citizens from one another. All states thus
possess some kind of machinery for upholding law and order. Secondly, it
is necessary to ensure that the voluntary agreements or contracts which
private individuals enter into are respected, which requires that they can be