The problem of social order is often approached as a problem of credible commitment between a protector, i.e. the state, and a group of citizens. What happens to this analysis when we consider that the protectors are always a group, never an individual, and ask how the organization of violence within the coalition of protectors affects how societies work? The answers give us a new perspective on the problems of economic development and suggest a new way to think about how modern societies emerged two hundred years ago.