max weber wrote in "politics as a vocation" that a fundamental characteristic of statehood is the claim of such a monopoly. his expanded definition was that something is "a 'state' if and insofar as its administrative staff successfully upholds a claim on the 'monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force' () in the enforcement of its order." weber's concept has been formalized to show that the exclusive policing power of the state benefits social welfare via private property, provided the state acts benevolently in the interest of its citizens.