We can sit here and argue about definitions of words or how they affect the decisions we make when dealing with other people, and we'll get nowhere. Or, we can accept already generally agreed upon ideas, such as property rights, the right to defend ones property from theft, as well as the defense of our lives, are basic to the human experience, they're essential.
We can argue about morality and all that will happen is you'll defend your moral code against mine, again, getting nowhere.
Granted, most see the government as legitimate and somewhat just. My claim is that government cannot be just, as it starts the relationship with threats of violence and theft in the form of taxes. Again, generally being accepted that to take from someone something which isn't yours, is theft.
It places "the law" at the forefront of all that is government, no matter how silly the premise of the law is, these laws are strictly enforced. Such as the war on drugs, as an example. Now, let's determine how this happens and how does government get this "right" to proclaim itself master of the individual.
If someone, hurting no one else, wants to ruin their lives with drugs or anything else for that matter, what right does anyone have to stop them, if that's the choice they'd have for their lives? Who is to choose what is acceptable, and what is not? And, how does incarceration solve anything? Notice it's called rehabilitation or correctional behavior modifications or even programming. As if suddenly you don't obey the arbitrary commands of the political class, you're automatically a bad person deserving to be locked up as a danger to society, even though you've hurt no one and there is no victim present to accuse you of your supposed crime. Cops are there as enforcers of these laws, they are the pointy end of politics. Or, the gun in the room.
Sure, some good people are cops, but when this system destroys lives, when there is no victim present, how can this be legitimate? I feel cops would fair much better becoming private security.
Where does this vision of authority come from? And, why is it recognized as legitimate? Some say from the consent of the governed. Although, it's hard to imagine anyone giving up sometimes almost half of their production willingly. But we do, every payday. It's not because of your want to do good for society, it's because you'll go to jail if you don't pay. Does the basic rights of human beings become null and void when this extortion occurs under the name of law? Does the collective matter more than the individual when it comes to what is called, the so called the common good?
Anarchism recognizes the fact that each individual owns themselves as well as the fact that no one has the right to rule you. Anarchism is simply removing the coercive force of government from our lives, and basically recognizing property rights, as well as voluntary association, to be the law of the land, so to speak. How can this be handled in a world without government? Through arbitration and private courts. In the world of anarchism, social ostracism would be a very real thing. Someone who continually breaks contracts or commits acts against persons or property wouldn't fair well. Some will say, how can we trust the arbitrators? Same thing, social ostracism. The "judge" would simply be selling his opinion to willing customers who needed his service. If an arbitrator was known for good and fair decisions, he'd likely fair well. The ones who became corrupt and accepted bribes, or gave unfair decisions, they would be ostracized by society.
How would these judgements be enforced? In a world without government, you'd likely have protection agencies who would sell their services to customers. They would recover your goods or fees for damages from the one who was judged guilty. That will lead someone to say, but, what if the guilty person has a protection agency too? Wouldn't there be warfare among the agencies? Perhaps, until they realize that battling each other constantly is very expensive, and mutually agreed upon relationships would occur. An example would be, if agency A has a defendant who is found guilty by an arbitrator, agency B would agree not to defend their client. Again, these things can be agreed to in the initial contract between the individual and the agency.
I personally view anarchism as a far better alternative to the current system, where the cop, the judge, and the prosecutor form a triad against the accused.