I came across this essay a few months back through Mises.org and I felt it was still worth sharing because it provides some great insights into libertarianism. In Minarchy Considered, Richard A. Garner examines the minarchist vs. libertarian anarchist/Anarcho-capitalist debate on the existence and role of governments.

Personally, I am not advocating one side of this debate over the other, I just happen to think this essay provides an interesting analysis on this particular distinction between libertarians.

WHILST SOME DEFENDERS of the minimal, limited state or government hold that the state is "a necessary evil," others would consider that this claim that the state is evil concedes too much ground to anarchists. In this article I intend to discuss the views of some who believe that government is a good thing, and their arguments for supporting this position. My main conclusions will be that, in each case, the proponents of a minimal state, or "minarchy," fail to justify as much as what they call government, and so fail to oppose anarchism, or absences of what they call government.

Regardless of where you may fit in on the libertarian scale of things, this essay is definitely worth the read.