This book offers a new approach to the problem of violence and shows the close relationship between economic and political behavior. Most natural state societies limit violence through political manipulation of the economy to create privileged interest groups. This helps limit the use of violence by powerful individuals, but at the same time creates obstacles to economic and political development. On the other hand, modern societies create open access to economic and political organizations, stimulating political and economic competition. This book helps to understand why open access societies are politically and economically more advanced than "natural states" and how some twenty-five countries have managed to make the transition from one type of society to another.