If Friday attempts to rob Crusoe of his coconuts, that action constitutes initiated force, also called coercion. The term "initiate," etymologically related to "initial," means to start or introduce. In this instance, Friday has introduced the use of force into the situation, and his action is a form of market intervention. Similarly, if agents of a government attempt to take Crusoe's coconuts against his will—i. e., by force or its equivalent, the threat of force—then their action also constitutes an initiation of force and a species of market intervention. (We offer no moral judgments in this section, but merely establish valid concepts based on objective similarities of kind.)

Crusoe may attempt to protect his property from Friday's actions, perhaps by threatening him with a bamboo pole. Crusoe's action constitutes defensive force. Defensive force may be either preventive or retaliatory. If Crusoe uses the bamboo pole to protect his property at the time of the attempted robbery, he is wielding preventive force; if he uses it to recover his coconuts later, that is retaliatory force. Alternatively, if the island has a government, then agents of that government may defend Crusoe's property against Friday's aggression, using either preventive or retaliatory force.

In this subsection we are primarily concerned with forms of initiated force, i. e., interventions into the market, particularly by governments under the aegis of various laws. Issues related to defensive force will be treated in Section 5.

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