[karma_pharmer]

The definition of "the state" used to be "the entity with a monopoly on violence".

I think it has changed to "the entity with a monopoly on surveillance".

[westmeal]

It's gotta be both because if you don't know who to brutalize you can have all the brutalizers in the world but not know how to use em. Look at how the Stasi operated, intel is crucial for maintaining control of a state.