Anarchy has a bad reputation. Most people think of mustachioed men with Molotov cocktails or, worse, a civilization that has fallen into chaos.
But that’s not what we have in mind.
Anarchism is rules without rulers—a condition marked by five basic features:
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Non-Monopoly. There is no monopoly on enforcement powers; instead agencies compete for your custom within customary law.
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Right of Exit. The right to leave a system that isn’t working, perhaps to join another system.
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Association by Agreement. Contracts, not compulsion, establish legal relationships. Communities, not compulsion, establish cultural ties.
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Private Property. The primacy of private property with provisions for creating commons and club goods where necessary.
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Competitive Courts. Competing entrepreneurial legal services and courts resolve disputes and enforce agreements.
But what about democracy?
Christopher Cook argues that “the era of democracy must end” because,
[We] had simply traded monarchs for majorities, aristocrats for administrators, and one privileged elite for another. We are still abused and oppressed. Our fate is still in the hands of people who claim a “right” to rule over us.
Cook is correct.
The next stage of social evolution needs to be post-democratic—rules without rulers.
No system is perfect, of course.
As I have written elsewhere, anarchy is more like a North Star than a destination, and we will have to continue to tinker, face setbacks, and move in the right direction. If we ever find ourselves in such a state (no pun), we would still have to improve continuously.
Like markets in TVs and toasters help these items improve with time, such will be the nature of markets in governance.
Max Borders is a senior advisor to The Advocates. See more of his work at Underthrow.
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