Gourt > Society > Politics > Liberalism > Libertarianism > Anarcho Capitalism (11)
Anarcho-capitalism is an individualist philosophy based on the idea of individual sovereignty, and a prohibition against initiatory coercion and fraud. It sees the only just basis for law as arising from private property norms and an unlimited right of contract between sovereign individuals. For anarcho-capitalists, property may only be transferred by trade, gift, or abandonment; confiscation is seen as an illegitimate method of acquiring property from others, whether performed by private individuals, groups, collectives, or the state. Anarcho-capitalists reject the state as an unjustified monopolist and systematic aggressor against sovereign individuals, and would replace it with cooperatives, neighborhood associations, private businesses and similar non-monopolistic organizations. They embrace a form of anti-statist laissez-faire capitalism, and believe that all goods and services should be supplied through voluntary mechanisms like the free market. Because of this embrace of capitalism, there is considerable tension between anarcho-capitalists and those anarchists who see the rejection of capitalism as being just as essential to anarchist philosophy as rejection of the state.
The first well-known version of anarcho-capitalism was developed by Austrian School economist and libertarian Murray Rothbard in the mid-20th century, synthesizing elements from Austrian School economics, classical liberalism and 19th century American individualist anarchism. While Rothbard bases his philosophy on natural law, others, such as David Friedman, take a pragmatic consequentialist approach by arguing that anarcho-capitalism should be implemented because such a system would have consequences superior to alternatives.
Philosophy
The nonaggression axiom
| The term anarcho-capitalism was most likely coined in the mid-1950s by the economist Murray Rothbard.Rothbard, Murray N. (1988) "What's Wrong with Liberty Poll; or, How I Became a Libertarian", Liberty, July 1988, p.53 Other terms sometimes used for this philosophy, though not necessarily outside of anarcho-capitalist circles, include: | |
| Chomsky refutes "libertarian" "anarcho"- capitalism | |
| Next Video | |
