Map My Politics

ANARCHISM – The Stateless Ideology

Anarchism is one of the six quasi-democratic or “fringe” political ideologies on the Map My Politics ideology chart, occupying the area on the bottom below the libertarian and social libertarian zones. Anarchists believe in an absolute maximum of personal freedom to the point of advocating for a stateless society. Instead of a government, anarchism postulates as system of mutualism where all individuals interact consensually and without societally-imposed constraints. Because this essentially places anarchism outside the realm of traditional democratic governance, we consider anarchism on the fringe of the mainstream political ideologies.

On the x-axis of economic liberty, anarchists differ considerably in their beliefs about private property and the free market. Accordingly, anarchism is appropriately placed in the middle of this axis between its ideological cousins, anarcho-capitalism and utopian socialism. Anarcho-capitalists champion a stateless society based on laissez-faire economics, while utopian socialists advocate for a classless society without private property. This leaves generic anarchists with a system that mixes private and common ownership. The common denominator, of course, is the lack of a central government to establish currency, impose taxes or provide essential services. To mainstream ideologies, this absence represents the practical shortcomings of anarchism. To a true-believing anarchist, however, such criticisms merely demonstrate a lack of idealistic vision about how an enlightened, stateless society could function economically.

Regarding the y-axis of social liberty, anarchists are by definition absolutists about the lack of state authority to impose limits on personal behavior. This is not to say that anarchism is a hedonistic or libertine ideology, rather that anarchism values self-restraint and personal virtue over externally-imposed morality. Historically, an important component of anarchism in America has stressed “free love,” especially with respect to women’s rights. The free love movement advocated against any state involvement in marriage, birth control or sexual orientation. Similarly, anarchism is allied with the “free thought,” an anti-clerical movements whose goal was to make the individual politically and spiritually free to decide moral and religious matters. The common thread is one of opposition to external authority regarding personal liberty.

Anarchism as a modern ideology can be traced to 18th century British and French philosophers like William Godwin and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Godwin, whose daughter was Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, criticized political institutions and proposed instead an anarchistic society in which human beings use their reason to decide the best course of action. In the United States, ideological anarchism had a natural affinity for the distrust of government that characterized colonial and post-revolutionary America. In contrast with European versions, however, American anarchism leaned more towards individualism and was mainly pro-capitalist, justifying private property as a safeguard of personal autonomy. Important 19th century American anarchist thinkers include Henry David Thoreau (who wrote the essay "Civil Disobedience"), Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker.

Because the United States is – for the most part – a two-party system, anarchists can be found in the both the major political parties. However, most anarchists would presumably find each of the Democratic and Republican platforms antithetical to their aspirations for a stateless society and would vote independently. Regardless of how an anarchist chooses to participate politically, however, a strong tendency to support anti-authoritarian policies will predominate. As we stress repeatedly on the Map My Politics site, politics at its most fundamental level is about ideology.

There are no anarchists in mainstream American politics, chiefly because anarchism is not a mainstream ideology. Some Democrats and Republicans have no doubt expressed anarchistic sympathies regarding the excesses of authoritarian government, but no elected members of Congress have, as yet, openly advocated for replacing the American constitutional form of government with an anarchistic one. Influential modern American anarchist thinkers and activists have included Dorothy Day, Paul Goodman and David Graeber.

For further reading about the anarchist ideology, click here.

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