A major question that has occupied scholars who have considered the development of nonstate governing entities has been their sources of authority and how these have been constituted. The principal argument that has been put forward is that their authority, to the extent that they have legitimate authority and are not acting illegitimately, is a delegated authority that is granted to them by nation-states. For example, within the sphere of security governance, private sector providers of policing services derive whatever authority they have from state law – primarily property law and contract law.