Anarchism: Core Ideas & Principles (Edexcel A Level Politics): Revision Note

Rejection of the state

• Anarchism is a political ideology that rejects the state and all forms of imposed authority

• It argues that society can and should be organised through voluntary cooperation rather than coercion

For anarchists, rejection of the state means

• Opposition to hierarchy of power

  • The state is a coercive institution that restricts human freedom and equality

• Decentralisation

  • Power should be distributed locally rather than concentrated in a central government

• Freedom of the individual over obedience

  • True liberty is incompatible with state domination

• Critique of law and enforcement

  • Laws are tools of oppression that favour elites over ordinary people

Key thinkers

• Bakunin

  • Advocated the abolition of the state

  • Argued that it enforces class domination and reduces liberty

• Kropotkin

  • Argued for federations of self-managed communities

  • Rejected centralised authority

• Goldman

  • Condemned the state as a ‘cold monster’

Liberty

• Liberty refers to individual autonomy and the ability to make personal choices without coercion from the state or other forms of imposed authority

For anarchists, liberty means:

• Individual autonomy

  • Freedom to make personal choices without coercion from the state

• Ethical responsibility

  • Liberty comes with obligations to others in society

  • Freedom is not exercised in isolation

• Negative and positive freedom

  • An absence of coercion

  • The ability to self-govern

Key thinkers

• Stirner

  • Promoted egoistic freedom

  • Argued that the individual’s will is sovereign

• Bakunin

  • Argued that liberty is achieved in and through others

  • Individual freedom is realised through collective freedom

Anarchy is order

• For anarchists, anarchy is order refers to the belief that social order can emerge naturally without the state, through voluntary cooperation rather than coercive authority

For anarchists, anarchy is order means

• Natural social order

  • Order emerges without the state

  • Voluntary cooperation replaces coercive control

• Self-regulating communities

  • Communities govern themselves

  • Mutual aid and ethical norms replace state law

• Harmony through equality

  • Hierarchy creates conflict

  • Removing hierarchy allows harmony to develop

Key thinkers

• Goldman

  • Argued that voluntary organisation is more orderly than imposed state laws

• Stirner

  • Believed order arises from the egoist’s rational pursuit of self-interest

  • Harmony emerges through voluntary association with others

Economic freedom

• For anarchists, economic freedom refers to freedom from economic coercion and exploitation, particularly those created by the state and capitalist systems of ownership and control

For anarchists, economic freedom means

• Abolition of exploitative private property

  • Property should be based on use and contribution rather than ownership for profit

• Worker control

  • Labourers should control the means of production

  • Capitalism is rejected as a system of exploitation

• Voluntary exchange

  • Economic activity should be free from state coercion

  • Exchange should be based on consent rather than authority

Key thinkers

• Proudhon

  • Advocated mutualism

  • Supported anti-capitalist markets

  • Argued for the abolition of private property where it limits freedom

• Kropotkin

  • Favoured communal sharing of resources

  • Argued for the abolition of private property to achieve a utopian society

Utopian society

• For anarchists, utopianism refers to the belief that it is possible to create a free, cooperative and egalitarian society by abolishing or reimagining institutions of power

For anarchists, utopianism means

• A vision of an ideal society

  • Society would be free, cooperative and egalitarian

• Hope as a political motivator

  • A positive view of human nature underpins anarchist thought

  • Harmony and liberty are seen as achievable

• Reimagining institutions of power

  • Institutions of authority must be abolished or fundamentally transformed

  • This is necessary to achieve harmony and liberty

Key thinkers

• Goldman

  • Advocated an anarchist utopia based on equality and liberty

  • Grounded in a belief in human potential

• Stirner

  • Envisioned an egoist utopia

  • Based on individual autonomy and mutual usefulness