Tonight a small mob of Republicans will go on TV to argue about which of them is best suited to be the next head of the U.S. government. If that sounds too dreadful to sit through, here's an alternative piece of programming: a panel of scholars discussing some of the forms of governance—note that they use the word governance, not government—that emerge from voluntary cooperation.

The lead speaker is Ed Stringham, an economist at Trinity College and the author of the interesting new book Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life (Oxford University Press). Comments follow from the Florida State economist Bruce Benson and the Georgetown philosopher Jason Brennan (from whose remarks I took the title of this post); the GMU economist Peter Boettke serves as master of ceremonies.

An excerpt from Stringham's book appeared in the August/September issue of Reason; you can read it here.