Peter Jasper Akinola is the former Anglican
PrimatePrimate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
of the
Church of NigeriaThe Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership, after the Church of England. It gives its current membership as "over 18 million", out of a total Nigerian population of 140 million.Since 2002...
. He is also the former
BishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of
AbujaAbuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...
(Nigeria's capital) and
ArchbishopAn archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Province III, which covers the northern and central parts of the country.
A "
low churchLow church is a term of distinction in the Church of England or other Anglican churches initially designed to be pejorative. During the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the established church in the 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups...
"
EvangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
, Akinola emphasizes the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and the teachings of the apostles (apostolic tradition) in a particular way. As one of the leaders of the
Global SouthThe Anglican Global South is a grouping of twenty of the thirty-eight provinces of the Anglican Communion. The provinces identified with the Global South grouping represent most, but not all, of the Third World countries within the Communion and are mostly conservative on matters of sexual ethics,...
within the Anglican Communion, Akinola has taken a firm stand against theological developments which he contends are incompatible with the biblical teachings of Christianity, notably setting himself against any revisionist or liberal interpretations of the Bible and, in particular, opposing same-sex blessings, the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals or, indeed, any homosexual practice. He is a leader of some conservatives throughout the
Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
including the
Convocation of Anglicans in North AmericaThe Convocation of Anglicans in North America is an Anglican body in the United States primarily comprising Anglican and Episcopal churches that have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America . CANA was initially a missionary initiative of the Anglican Church of Nigeria...
, but is seen by others as a divisive force.
On 15 September 2009, 57 year old Archbishop
Nicholas OkohArchbshop Nicholas Okoh is the current Primate of all Nigeria . He was elected to the post on September 15, 2009 and worked with the outgoing Primate the most reverend Peter Akinola for a couple of transition months. He was installed as Primate on Thursday March 25, 2010...
, of Bendel Province, was elected the Primate of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) at the conference of the House of Bishops in Umuahia. He succeeded Akinola who retired in March 2010.
Biography
Peter Akinola was born in 1944 to a
YorubaThe Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
family in
AbeokutaAbeokuta is the largest city and capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria and is situated at , on the Ogun River; 64 miles north of Lagos by railway, or 81 miles by water. As of 2005, Abeokuta and the surrounding area had a population of 593,140....
in southwestern Nigeria . His father died when he was four years old and due to financial pressures Akinola had to leave school early. He learned carpentry and at twenty he had a successful furniture business and had finished high school by distance education. He studied at a Nigerian Anglican seminary and was ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Church of Nigeria. Soon after ordination, he pursued further study at the
Virginia Theological SeminaryVirginia Theological Seminary , formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, is the largest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States. Founded in 1818, VTS is situated on an campus in Alexandria, Virginia, just a few miles from downtown Washington, DC. VTS...
.
Returning to Nigeria at the beginning of the 1980s, Akinola was assigned to create an Anglican presence in the new capital
AbujaAbuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...
which was about to be built. He holds it one of his greatest successes to have created out of nothing a vibrant Anglican community there. In 1989 he was ordained bishop of Abuja and 1997 archbishop of Province III of the Church of Nigeria, consisting of the northern dioceses of Nigeria. On February 22, 2000 he was elected primate of the Church of Nigeria, the second biggest church in the Anglican Communion, then numbering 18 million members.
Akinola was given the National Award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) in December 2003.
In 2006 Akinola appeared on TIME magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people in the category Leaders and Revolutionaries. However, in 2007 TIME magazine suggested that he
"has some explaining to do" in relation to his support for legislation criminalising "gay... organizations" and "Publicity, procession and public show of same-sex amorous relationship through the electronic or print media physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise".
In 2007, the Nigerian newspaper ThisDay gave him together with 17 others a
Lifetime Achievement Award, stating in its citation: "
Called a bigot by some in the Anglican Church, his attitudes nonetheless represent a deep-rooted conservative tradition in African Christianity that is flourishing and growing." But he has been criticised by other sections of the international press, including the right-leaning
Daily Telegraph which in an editorial on 23 March 2007 characterised him as one of the "extremists" who had "hijacked" conservative Anglicanism, and as "a deeply divisive figure" who has
"defended new Nigerian legislation that makes "cancerous" (his word) same-sex activity punishable by up to five years' imprisonment." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/03/23/dl2302.xml
Akinola was at one time President of the
Christian Association of NigeriaThe Christian Association of Nigeria is an umbrella organization containing numerous Christian denominations in Nigeria.-Leadership:Ayo Oritsejafor, Senior Pastor of Word of Life Bible Church,is the President and Archbishop Daniel Okoh, President of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches,...
, an ecumenical body bringing together 52 million
ProtestantProtestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
, Catholic, and
African independent ChristiansAn African Initiated Church is any of a number of Christian churches independently started in Africa by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent, in which they sometimes hold to one or more African tribal belief systems syncretised with Christianity.-Nomenclature:A variety of...
. During his Presidency, the National Ecumenical Centre in Abuja was completed, which had been a building ruin for 16 years. Akinola was voted out of his position as National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in June 2007, and replaced by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nigeria, who polled 72 votes to Akinola's 33 votes.
http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=06/20/2007&qrTitle=Onayeikan%20is%20new%20CAN%20president&qrColumn=FRONT%20PAGE This followed criticism of Akinola's allegedly high handed leadership style and of his alleged failure to confront Nigerian President Obasanjo as other Christian leaders had. Subsequently, his candidacy as Vice President was rejected by the General Assembly of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
Peter Akinola is married and a father of six.
In October 2009, he reacted to the Vatican's proposed creation of
personal ordinariateA personal ordinariate is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church enabling former Anglicans to maintain some degree of corporate identity and autonomy with regard to the bishops of the geographical dioceses of the Catholic Church and to preserve elements of their distinctive Anglican...
s for disaffected traditionalist Anglicans by saying that although he welcomed
ecumencial dialogueEcumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
and shared
moral theologyMoral theology is a systematic theological treatment of Christian ethics. It is usually taught on Divinity faculties as a part of the basic curriculum.- External links :*...
with the Catholic Church, the current GAFCON structures already meet the spiritual and pastoral needs of conservative Anglicans in Africa.
In November 2009, Akinola signed an ecumenical statement known as the
Manhattan DeclarationThe Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience is a manifesto issued by Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christian leaders to affirm support of "the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty". It was drafted on October 20, 2009 and released November 20, 2009,...
calling on evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodox not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters that go against their religious consciences.
Vision of the Church of Nigeria
One of his first actions as primate was to get together 400 bishops, priests, lay members, and members of the
Mothers' UnionMothers’ Union is an international Christian charity that seeks to support families worldwide. Its members are not all mothers or even all women, as there are many parents, men, widows, singles and grandparents involved in its work...
to elaborate a vision for the Church of Nigeria under chairman
Ernest ShonekanErnest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan is a British trained Nigerian lawyer, industrialist, politician and traditional chieftain. He was appointed as interim president of Nigeria by General Ibrahim Babangida on 26 August 1993. Babangida resigned under pressure to cede control to a democratic government...
, a former president of Nigeria. The vision elaborated was:
- "The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) shall be; bible-based, spiritually dynamic, united, disciplined, self supporting, committed to pragmatic evangelism, social welfare and a Church that epitomizes the genuine love of Christ."
Part of the program of actions were, e.g.
- on central level
- translating the books of liturgy in further languages
- establishing a group of 3000 leading lay personalities who will take care of fundraising and relieve the bishops of this duty
- establish a legal support team to enforce the constitutional right of freedom of religion and worship
- establish colleges for theology and universities
- provide internet access for the dioceses
- for each diocese
- training fulltime itinerant evangelists
- on the job training for priests and their wives
- working out a social welfare program for less privileged people
- establish a hospital with at least 30 beds
- establish secondary schools
- on community level
- literacy courses for adults
- set up cottage industries for the unemployed
Relations with the Anglican Communion
In August 2003 he stated that if the celibate homosexual
Jeffrey JohnJeffrey Philip Hywel John SCP is a Church of England priest and the current Dean of St Albans. He made headlines in 2003 when he was the first person to have openly been in a same-sex relationship to be nominated as a Church of England bishop...
was consecrated as Bishop of
ReadingReading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
or the non-celibate homosexual
Gene RobinsonVicki Gene Robinson is the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Robinson was elected bishop in 2003 and entered office in March 2004...
consecrated as Bishop of
New HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, the
Church of NigeriaThe Church of Nigeria is the Anglican church in Nigeria. It is the second-largest province in the Anglican Communion, as measured by baptized membership, after the Church of England. It gives its current membership as "over 18 million", out of a total Nigerian population of 140 million.Since 2002...
would leave the
Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
. A number of dioceses throughout the world, including the Diocese of Sydney, made similar statements. Under pressure from the Archbishop of Canterbury, John withdrew from appointment as bishop and was subsequently appointed as Dean of St Albans. Gene Robinson's consecration went forward, precipitating a crisis in the
Anglican CommunionThe Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
. At the end of 2003 Akinola commissioned together with
Drexel Gomez-Life and ministry:Gomez was born on the Berry Islands.He graduated from St Chad's College, Durham University in 1959. He was consecrated as the Bishop of Barbados and in 1997 was elected the Bishop of the Bahamas & the Turks & Caicos Islands. He was elected Archbishop and Primate of the Province...
, primate of the
Church in the Province of the West IndiesThe Church in the Province of the West Indies is a member province in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church comprises eight dioceses spread out over much of the West Indies area. The present position of archbishop and primate of the West Indies is held by The Most Rev. John Holder. The Most...
and Gregory Venables, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone
Claiming our Anglican Identity: The Case Against the Episcopal Church, USA, a paper for the Primates of the Anglican Communion detailing the implications of the consecration of Gene Robinson for the Anglican Communion, in the view of conservative Primates.
His first reaction on the
Windsor ReportIn 2003, the Lambeth Commission on Communion was appointed by the Anglican Communion to study problems stemming from the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, noncelibate priest to be ordained as an Anglican bishop, in the Episcopal Church in the United States and the blessing of...
2004 was outspoken and critical, but the statement from the Primates gathered at the first African Anglican Bishop's Conference, headed by Akinola, was more moderate and expressed commitment to the future of the Anglican Communion. However, whilst strenuously supporting those parts of the Windsor Report which address the gay issue, he has not followed with those parts that deplore overseas interventions in the U.S. Church and has, on the contrary, set up a missionary body, the
Convocation of Anglicans in North AmericaThe Convocation of Anglicans in North America is an Anglican body in the United States primarily comprising Anglican and Episcopal churches that have disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America . CANA was initially a missionary initiative of the Anglican Church of Nigeria...
, in order to formalise the ties between break-away Anglicans in the United States and the Church of Nigeria.
In September 2005, Akinola spoke out against the Church in Brazil deposition of an Evangelical bishop and
excommunicationExcommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
of over 30 priests .
In September 2005, the Church of Nigeria redefined in its constitution its relationship to the Anglican Communion as "Communion with all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the Historic Faith, Doctrine, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.". In a later press release, Akinola clarified "We want to state that our intention in amending the 2002 Constitution of the Church of Nigeria was to make clear that we are committed to the historic faith once delivered to the Saints, practice and the traditional formularies of the Church. ... We treasure our place within the worldwide family of the Anglican Communion but we are distressed by the unilateral actions of those provinces that are clearly determined to redefine what our common faith was once. We have chosen not to be yoked to them as we prefer to exercise our freedom to remain faithful. We continue to pray, however, that there will be a genuine demonstration of repentance."
On November 12, 2005, Akinola signed a Covenant of Concordat with the Presiding Bishops of the
Reformed Episcopal ChurchThe Reformed Episcopal Church is an Anglican church in the United States and Canada and a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America...
and the
Anglican Province of AmericaThe Anglican Province of America is one of a number of "Continuing" Anglican churches in the United States. This church considers the Episcopal Church in the USA to be heretical, thus it maintains a church separate from that body in order to follow what it considers to be a truly Christian and...
.
Akinola refused to take Holy Communion in company with the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, both at the Primates Meeting at Dromantine in 2005 and at the Primates Meeting at Dar-es-Salaam in 2007 and, on the latter occasion, he issued a press release in order to publicise and explain his refusal and that of others associated with him.
Akinola's name as chairman of the Global South Primates heads the list of signatories to a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury on November 15, 2005. In this letter Europe is described as "a spiritual desert" and the actions of the Church of England in supporting the new civil partnerships laws are said to give "the appearance of evil".
Three of the bishops whose names appeared on the document at the Global South website (President Bishop
Clive HandfordThe Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion stretching from Iran in the east to Algeria in the west, and Cyprus in the north to Somalia in the south. It is the largest and the most diverse Anglican province. The church is headed by a President...
of Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Primate of the West Indies Archbishop Drexel Gomez, and the Presiding Bishop of the
Southern ConeSouthern Cone is a geographic region composed of the southernmost areas of South America, south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Although geographically this includes part of Southern and Southeast of Brazil, in terms of political geography the Southern cone has traditionally comprised Argentina,...
Bishop Gregory Venables) denied signing or approving the letter, and criticised it as "an act of impatience", "scandalous", and "megaphone diplomacy".
Akinola was among the Global South leaders who opposed the consecration of
Gene RobinsonVicki Gene Robinson is the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Robinson was elected bishop in 2003 and entered office in March 2004...
, the first openly homosexual bishop in the Anglican Communion. This group successfully pressed for the voluntary withdrawal of ECUSA's representatives from the
Anglican Consultative CouncilThe Anglican Consultative Council or ACC is one of the four "Instruments of Communion" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference...
's meeting in
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
in 2005, although representatives did attend in order to make a presentation supporting full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the Church, for which a vote of thanks was passed.
In August 2005 he denounced a statement of the Church of England's
House of BishopsThe House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.-Composition of Houses of Bishops:...
on
civil partnerships and called for the disciplining of the Church of England and ECUSA on the grounds that the Church has not changed its position on same-sex partnerships. Since the Anglican Communion has historically been defined as those Churches in communion with the
See of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, whose Archbishop is head of the Church of England and thus
primus inter pares in the Anglican Communion, this led to speculation that Akinola was positioning himself as a possible international leader of a more conservative church than the present Anglican Communion, which would no longer recognise the authority or primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, he attended the subsequent Primates Meeting in Tanzania in 2007, although he absented himself from all the celebrations of Holy Communion during that meeting.
In May 2007 he flew to the United States to install
Martyn MinnsThe Right Reverend Martyn Minns is the Missionary Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America . Prior to becoming bishop, he served as rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia, in the United States.-Background:...
, a priest who had left the Episcopal Church of the United States, as a bishop of the Church of Nigeria. Akinola reportedly ignored requests not to do this from both the Presiding Bishop and the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, the timing of the requests and their intent, relative to Akinola's departure from Nigeria is a subject of contention. The newly installed bishop indicated at a press conference that the intention was to replace the Episcopal Church of the USA (as an organ of the Anglican Communion) with a structure formed under auspices of the Church of Nigeria.
Akinola is one of the principal founders of the
Global Anglican Future ConferenceThe Global Anglican Future Conference was a seven day conference of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders held in Jerusalem in June 2008 to address the rise of secularism in the Church, HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the Conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued, and the...
http://www.gafcon.org/, an international gathering of conservative Anglican bishops planned for June 2008, and has declared that the Church of Nigeria is in full communion with the emergent Anglican Church in North America, which was founded to create a separate ecclesiastical structure to the Episcopal Church of the United States within the Anglican Communion.
Homosexuality laws in Nigeria
In September 2006, the Standing Committee of the Church of Nigeria, headed by Akinola, issued a Message to the Nation, taking up ten political controversies in Nigeria, among them a bill regarding same-sex relationships: "The Church commends the law-makers for their prompt reaction to outlaw same-sex relationships in Nigeria and calls for the bill to be passed since the idea expressed in the bill is the moral position of Nigerians regarding human sexuality." The bill in question, as well as criminalising same-sex marriage, also proposed to criminalise "Registration of Gay Clubs, Societies and organizations" and "Publicity, procession and public show of same-sex amorous relationship through the electronic or print media physically, directly, indirectly or otherwise", on penalty of up to 5 years of imprisonment. The proposed legislation was formally challenged by the United States State Department as a breach of Nigeria's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Some western supporters justify the legislation on the basis that it does not support the stoning to death of homosexuals under the Sharia code.
Reaction to Muslim cartoon riots
In February 2006, Muslims rioting over the
Danish newspaper cartoon controversyThe Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
spread to Nigeria. Rioters targeted Christians and their property, resulting in a reported 43 deaths, 30 burned churches
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022200876.html and 250 destroyed shops and houses
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20596890.htm. Included among the victims was the family of one of Akinola's bishops, Ben Kwashi, the Bishop of
JosJos is a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.The city has a population of about 1.5 million residents. Popularly called "J-town" or "Jesus Our Saviour" by the residents, it is the administrative capital of Plateau State....
. Kwashi's home was broken into and his wife was tortured and sexually assaulted, resulting in her temporary blindness. The rioters also severely beat Kwashi's teenage son. (Kwashi was out of the country in the United Kingdom at the time of the attack.)
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=14890 In response to the rioting, Akinola issued a statement in his capacity as President of the Christian Association of Nigeria: "May we at this stage remind our Muslim brothers that they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation." Some criticized this statement as inciting Christian counter-riots against Muslim targets in Nigeria (for example, Christian mobs in
OnitshaOnitsha is a city, a commercial, educational, and religious center and river port on the eastern bank of the Niger river in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria....
retaliated against Muslims, killing 80 persons,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4743672.stm, burned a Muslim district with 100 homes
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0602240148feb24,1,7889545.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true, defaced mosques
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002825506_cartoons24.html and burned the corpses of those they had killed in the streets
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20060224082007404C390883, forcing hundreds of Muslims to flee the city
http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/world/Full_Story/did-sgGx1Jb-KGD-ssg0aewFBADppk.asp). American evangelical leader
Rick WarrenRichard Duane "Rick" Warren is an American evangelical Christian minister and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, currently the eighth-largest church in the United States...
, however, wrote that Akinola's angry response "was no more characteristic than
Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
's apartheid-era statement that 'sooner or later this violence is going to spread to whites.'"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187221,00.html. The phrase "
monopoly on violenceThe monopoly on violence is the conception of the state expounded by Max Weber in Politics as a Vocation. According to Weber, the state is that entity which claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, which it may therefore elect to delegate as it sees fit...
" is most characteristically associated with describing how, in modern states, acts of enforcement are controlled by the government in "the monopoly of the legitimate use of violence in the enforcement of its order" (Max Weber) and does not rely upon vigilantism or private security which is not legitimated by the state.
Further reading