Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a
political philosophy
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
that upholds
liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
as a core value.
Libertarians seek to maximize
autonomy
In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...
and
political freedom
Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and F ...
, and
minimize the state's encroachment on and violations of individual liberties; emphasizing the
rule of law
The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...
,
pluralism,
cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizens ...
,
cooperation
Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...
,
civil and political rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
,
bodily autonomy
Bodily integrity is the inviolability of the physical body and emphasizes the importance of personal autonomy, self-ownership, and self-determination of human beings over their own bodies. In the field of human rights, violation of the bodily int ...
,
free association,
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
,
freedom of expression
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
,
freedom of choice
Freedom of choice describes an individual's opportunity and autonomy to perform an action selected from at least two available options, unconstrained by external parties.
In politics
In the abortion debate, for example, the term "freedom of ch ...
,
freedom of movement
Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country,Jérémiee Gilbert, ''Nomadic Peoples and Human Rights' ...
,
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
and
voluntary association
A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteering, volunteers, to form a body (or organ ...
.
Libertarians are often skeptical of or opposed to
authority
In the fields of sociology and political science, authority is the legitimate power of a person or group over other people. In a civil state, ''authority'' is practiced in ways such a judicial branch or an executive branch of government.''The N ...
,
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
power,
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
fare,
militarism
Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
and
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
, but some libertarians diverge on the scope of their opposition to existing
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
and
political system
In political science, a political system means the type of political organization that can be recognized, observed or otherwise declared by a state.
It defines the process for making official government decisions. It usually comprizes the govern ...
s. Various schools of Libertarian thought offer a range of views regarding the legitimate functions of state and private
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
, often calling for the restriction or dissolution of coercive
social institutions
Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
. Different categorizations have been used to distinguish various forms of Libertarianism.
[Long, Joseph. W (1996). "Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class". ''Social Philosophy and Policy''. 15 (2): 310. "When I speak of 'libertarianism' ..I mean all three of these very different movements. It might be protested that LibCap ibertarian capitalism LibSoc ibertarian socialismand LibPop ibertarian populismare too different from one another to be treated as aspects of a single point of view. But they do share a common—or at least an overlapping—intellectual ancestry."][Carlson, Jennifer D. (2012). "Libertarianism". In Miller, Wilburn R., ed. ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America''. London: Sage Publications]
p. 1006
. . "There exist three major camps in libertarian thought: right-libertarianism, socialist libertarianism, and left-libertarianism; the extent to which these represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme is contested by scholars." Scholars distinguish libertarian views on the nature of
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
and
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
, usually along
left–right or
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
–
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
lines.
Libertarians of various schools were influenced by
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
ideas.
Libertarianism originated as a form of
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...
such as
anti-authoritarian
Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism, which is defined as "a form of social organisation characterised by submission to authority", "favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom" and ...
and
anti-state
Anti-statism is any approach to social, economic or political philosophy that rejects statism. An anti-statist is one who opposes intervention by the state into personal, social and economic affairs. In anarchism, this is characterized by a comp ...
socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...
like
anarchists
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
, especially
social anarchists
Social anarchism is the branch of anarchism that sees individual freedom as interrelated with mutual aid.Suissa, Judith (2001). "Anarchism, Utopias and Philosophy of Education". ''Journal of Philosophy of Education'' 35 (4). pp. 627–646. . S ...
, but more generally
libertarian communists
Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains res ...
/
Marxists
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectic ...
and
libertarian socialists
Libertarian socialism, also known by #Name, various other names, is a Left-wing politics, left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and liberta ...
.
These libertarians seek to
abolish capitalism
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
and
private ownership
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Legal personality, legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and Personal property, personal property, which is owned by a s ...
of the
means of production
The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as an ...
, or else to restrict their purview or effects to
usufruct
Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'':
* ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directl ...
property norms, in favor of
common
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
or
cooperative ownership
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
and
management
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
, viewing private property as a barrier to freedom and liberty. While all libertarians support some level of
individual rights
Group rights, also known as collective rights, are rights held by a group ''wikt:qua, qua'' a group rather than individually by its members; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by Individuality, individual people; even if they are grou ...
,
left-libertarians
Left-libertarianism,Bookchin, Murray; Biehl, Janet (1997). ''The Murray Bookchin Reader''. New York: Cassell. p. 170.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to ...
differ by supporting an
egalitarian
Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
redistribution of natural resources.
Left-libertarian ideologies include
anarchist schools of thought
Anarchism is the political philosophy which holds ruling classes and the state to be undesirable, unnecessary and harmful, The following sources cite anarchism as a political philosophy: Slevin, Carl. "Anarchism." ''The Concise Oxford Dicti ...
, alongside many other anti-
paternalist
Paternalism is action that limits a person's or group's liberty or autonomy and is intended to promote their own good. Paternalism can also imply that the behavior is against or regardless of the will of a person, or also that the behavior expres ...
and
New Left
The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
schools of thought
A school of thought, or intellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement.
H ...
centered around
economic egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hum ...
as well as
geolibertarianism
Geolibertarianism is a political and economic ideology that integrates libertarianism with Georgism. It favors a taxation system based (as in Georgism) on income derived from land and natural resources instead of on labor, coupled with a mini ...
,
green politics
Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It b ...
,
market-oriented left-libertarianism
Free-market anarchism, or market anarchism, also known as free-market anti-capitalism and free-market socialism, is the branch of anarchism that advocates a free-market economic system based on voluntary interactions without the involvement of ...
and the
Steiner–Vallentyne school
Left-libertarianism,Bookchin, Murray; Biehl, Janet (1997). ''The Murray Bookchin Reader''. New York: Cassell. p. 170.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to ...
. Around the turn of the 21st century, libertarian socialism grew in popularity and influence as part of the
anti-war
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to pa ...
,
anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
and
anti-globalisation movement
The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...
s.
In the mid-20th century, American
right-libertarian
Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
proponents of
anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforce ...
and
minarchism
A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggres ...
co-opted
the term ''libertarian'' to advocate ''
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
''
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
and strong
private property rights
Property rights are constructs in economics for determining how a resource or economic good is used and owned, which have developed over ancient and modern history, from Abrahamic law to Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Re ...
such as in land, infrastructure and natural resources. The latter is the dominant form of
libertarianism in the United States
In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of conservatism and liberalism in the United States, libertarianism has been described as ''conservative'' on economic iss ...
.
This new form of libertarianism was a revival of
classical liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a political and moral philosophy based on concepts of unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the separation of c ...
,
which occurred due to
American liberals embracing
progressivism
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, tec ...
and
economic interventionism
Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of ...
in the early 20th century after the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and with the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
. Since the 1970s, right-libertarianism has spread beyond the United States,
[Teles, Steven; Kenney, Daniel A. "Spreading the Word: The Diffusion of American Conservatism in Europe and Beyond". In Kopsten, Jeffrey; Steinmo, Sven, eds. (2007)]
''Growing Apart?: America and Europe in the Twenty-First Century''
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
. pp. 136–169. with
right-libertarian parties being established in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. Minarchists advocate for
night-watchman state
A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggres ...
s which maintain only those functions of government necessary to safeguard natural rights, understood in terms of self-ownership or autonomy,
while anarcho-capitalists advocate for the replacement of all state institutions with private institutions.
Other forms of libertarianism include
libertarian paternalism
Libertarian paternalism is the idea that it is both possible and legitimate for private and public institutions to affect behavior while also respecting freedom of choice, as well as the implementation of that idea. The term was coined by behav ...
,
which advocates for a society "in which the state and other institutions are allowed to ''Nudge'' people to make decisions that serve their own long-term interests." while allowing them "to opt out";
neo-libertarianism
Neo-libertarianism is a political and social philosophy that combines "the libertarian's moral commitment to negative liberty with a procedure that selects principles for restricting liberty on the basis of a unanimous agreement in which everyone ...
, which combines "the libertarian's moral commitment to
negative liberty
Negative liberty is freedom from interference by other people. Negative liberty is primarily concerned with freedom from external restraint and contrasts with positive liberty (the possession of the power and resources to fulfill one's own pote ...
with a procedure that selects principles for restricting liberty on the basis of a unanimous agreement in which everyone's particular interests receive a fair hearing";
and libertarian
populism
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
, which combines libertarian and populist politics, opposing "big government" while also opposing "other large, centralized institutions".
Overview
Etymology
![Le libertaire 25](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Le_libertaire_25.png)
The first recorded use of the term ''libertarian'' was in 1789, when
William Belsham
William Belsham (1752–1827) was an English political writer and historian, noted as a supporter of the Whig Party and its principles. He justified the American Revolution in excusing Americans in their resistance to the demands of England, and ...
wrote about
libertarianism
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
in the context of metaphysics. As early as 1796, libertarian came to mean an advocate or defender of liberty, especially in the political and social spheres, when the London Packet printed on 12 February the following: "Lately marched out of the Prison at Bristol, 450 of the French Libertarians". It was again used in a political sense in 1802 in a short piece critiquing a poem by "the author of Gebir" and has since been used with this meaning.
The use of the term ''libertarian'' to describe a new set of political positions has been traced to the French cognate ''libertaire'', coined in a letter French
libertarian communist
Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...
Joseph Déjacque
Joseph Déjacque (; 27 December 1821, in Paris – 1864, in Paris) was a French early anarcho-communist poet, philosopher and writer. He coined the term "libertarian" (French: ''libertaire'') for himselfJoseph DéjacqueDe l'être-humain mâle e ...
wrote to
mutualist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
in 1857.
Déjacque also used the term for his
anarchist publication ''
Le Libertaire, Journal du mouvement social
''Le Libertaire'' is a Francophone anarchist newspaper established in New York City in June 1858 by the exiled anarchist Joseph Déjacque. It appeared at slightly irregular intervals until February 1861. The title reappeared in Algiers in 1892 a ...
'' (''Libertarian: Journal of Social Movement'') which was printed from 9 June 1858 to 4 February 1861 in New York City.
Sébastien Faure
Sébastien Faure (6 January 1858 – 14 July 1942) was a French anarchist, freethought and secularist activist and a principal proponent of synthesis anarchism.
Biography
Before becoming a free-thinker, Faure was a seminarist. He engaged ...
, another French libertarian communist, began publishing a new ''Le Libertaire'' in the mid-1890s while France's
Third Republic enacted the so-called villainous laws (''
lois scélérates
The ''lois scélérates'' ("villainous laws") – a pejorative name – were a set of three History of France, French laws passed from 1893 to 1894 under the French Third Republic, Third Republic (1870–1940) that restricted the 1881 freedom of th ...
'') which banned anarchist publications in France. ''Libertarianism'' has frequently been used to refer to
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
and
libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...
since this time.
[Ward, Colin (2004)]
''Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction''
. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. p. 62. "For a century, anarchists have used the word 'libertarian' as a synonym for 'anarchist', both as a noun and an adjective. The celebrated anarchist journal ''Le Libertaire'' was founded in 1896. However, much more recently the word has been appropriated by various American free-market philosophers .."
In the United States, ''libertarian'' was popularized by the
individualist anarchist
Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their Will (philosophy), will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems."What do I mean by individualism? I mean ...
Benjamin Tucker
Benjamin Ricketson Tucker (; April 17, 1854 – June 22, 1939) was an American individualist anarchist and libertarian socialist.Martin, James J. (1953)''Men Against the State: The Expositers of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827–1908''< ...
around the late 1870s and early 1880s. ''Libertarianism'' as a synonym for ''
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
'' was popularized in May 1955 by writer Dean Russell, a colleague of
Leonard Read
Leonard Edward Read (September 26, 1898 – May 14, 1983) was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), one of the first free market think tanks in the United States. He wrote 29 books and numerous essays, including the well-k ...
and a
classical liberal
Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, economic ...
himself. Russell justified the choice of the term as follows:
Subsequently, a growing number of Americans with classical liberal beliefs began to describe themselves as ''libertarians''. One person responsible for popularizing the term ''libertarian'' in this sense was
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...
, who started publishing libertarian works in the 1960s. Rothbard described this modern use of the words overtly as a "capture" from his enemies, writing that "for the first time in my memory, we, 'our side,' had captured a crucial word from the enemy. 'Libertarians' had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchists, either of the communist or syndicalist variety. But now we had taken it over".
In the 1970s,
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University, was responsible for popularizing this usage of the term in academic and philosophical circles outside the United States,
especially with the publication of ''
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
''Anarchy, State, and Utopia'' is a 1974 book by the American political philosopher Robert Nozick. It won the 1975 US National Book Award in category Philosophy and Religion, has been translated into 11 languages, and was named one of the "100 m ...
'' (1974), a response to
social liberal
Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...
John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition. Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal in 1 ...
's ''
A Theory of Justice
''A Theory of Justice'' is a 1971 work of political philosophy and ethics by the philosopher John Rawls (1921-2002) in which the author attempts to provide a moral theory alternative to utilitarianism and that addresses the problem of distributiv ...
'' (1971). In the book, Nozick proposed a
minimal state
A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggres ...
on the grounds that it was an inevitable phenomenon which could arise without violating
individual rights
Group rights, also known as collective rights, are rights held by a group ''wikt:qua, qua'' a group rather than individually by its members; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by Individuality, individual people; even if they are grou ...
.
[Schaefer, David Lewis (30 April 2008)]
"Robert Nozick and the Coast of Utopia"
. ''The New York Sun''. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
According to common United States meanings of ''
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
'' and ''
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
'',
libertarianism in the United States
In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of conservatism and liberalism in the United States, libertarianism has been described as ''conservative'' on economic iss ...
has been described as ''conservative'' on economic issues (
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
and
fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...
) and ''liberal'' on personal freedom (
civil libertarianism
Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporation, social nor ...
and
cultural liberalism
Cultural liberalism is a social philosophy which expresses the social dimension of liberalism and advocates the freedom of individuals to choose whether to conform to cultural norms. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, it is often expressed a ...
).
[Boaz, David; Kirby, David (18 October 2006)]
"The Libertarian Vote"
. Cato Institute. Retrieved 10 February 2020. It is also often associated with a foreign policy of
non-interventionism
Non-interventionism or non-intervention is a political philosophy or national foreign policy doctrine that opposes interference in the domestic politics and affairs of other countries but, in contrast to isolationism, is not necessarily opposed ...
.
[Edward A. Olsen (2002). ''US National Defense for the Twenty-First Century: The Grand Exit Strategy''. ]Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...
p. 182
. .
Definition
![Political Compass purple LibRight](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Political_Compass_purple_LibRight.svg)
Although libertarianism originated as a form of
left-wing politics
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...
,
the development in the mid-20th century of modern
libertarianism in the United States
In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of conservatism and liberalism in the United States, libertarianism has been described as ''conservative'' on economic iss ...
resulted in libertarianism being commonly associated with
right-wing politics
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, author ...
. It also resulted in several authors and political scientists using two or more categorizations
to distinguish libertarian views on the nature of property and capital, usually along left–right or socialist–capitalist lines.
Right-libertarians reject the label due to its association with
conservatism
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...
and right-wing politics, calling themselves simply ''libertarians'', while proponents of
free-market anti-capitalism
Free-market anarchism, or market anarchism, also known as free-market anti-capitalism and free-market socialism, is the branch of anarchism that advocates a free-market economic system based on voluntary interactions without the involvement of ...
in the United States consciously label themselves as ''left-libertarians'' and see themselves as being part of a broad libertarian left.
While the term ''libertarian'' has been largely synonymous with
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
as part of the left,
[Marshall, Peter (2009). '' Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism'']
p. 641
. "For a long time, libertarian was interchangeable in France with anarchism but in recent years, its meaning has become more ambivalent. Some anarchists like Daniel Guérin will call themselves 'libertarian socialists', partly to avoid the negative overtones still associated with anarchism, and partly to stress the place of anarchism within the socialist tradition. Even Marxists of the New Left like E. P. Thompson call themselves 'libertarian' to distinguish themselves from those authoritarian socialists and communists who believe in revolutionary dictatorship and vanguard parties." continuing today as part of the libertarian left in opposition to the moderate left such as
social democracy
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
or
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic votin ...
and
statist
In political science, statism is the doctrine that the political authority of the state is legitimate to some degree. This may include economic and social policy, especially in regard to taxation and the means of production.
While in use since ...
socialism, its meaning has more recently diluted with wider adoption from ideologically disparate groups,
including the right.
As a term, ''libertarian'' can include both the
New Left
The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
Marxists (who do not associate with a
vanguard party
Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form organi ...
) and extreme liberals (primarily concerned with
civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
) or
civil libertarians
Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporation, social nor ...
. Additionally, some libertarians use the term ''
libertarian socialist
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...
'' to avoid anarchism's negative connotations and emphasize its connections with socialism.
[Guérin, Daniel (1970). '' Anarchism: From Theory to Practice''. New York City: Monthly Review Press. p. 12. " archism is really a synonym for socialism. The anarchist is primarily a socialist whose aim is to abolish the exploitation of man by man. Anarchism is only one of the streams of socialist thought, that stream whose main components are concern for liberty and haste to abolish the State." .]
The revival of free-market ideologies during the mid- to late 20th century came with disagreement over what to call the movement. While many of its adherents prefer the term ''libertarian'', many
conservative libertarian
Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a Political philosophy, political and social philosophy that combines Conservatism in the United States, conservatism and Libertarianism in the ...
s reject the term's association with the 1960s New Left and its connotations of
libertine
A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...
hedonism.
The movement is divided over the use of ''conservatism'' as an alternative.
Those who seek both economic and social liberty would be known as ''liberals'', but that term developed associations opposite of the
limited government
In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theo ...
, low-taxation, minimal state advocated by the movement. Name variants of the free-market revival movement include ''
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition
Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture.
Definition
Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
'', ''
economic liberalism
Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
'', ''
free-market liberalism
The term market liberalism is used in two distinct ways.
In the United States, the term is used as a synonym to classical liberalism. In this sense, market liberalism depicts a political ideology, combining a market economy with personal liberty ...
'' and ''
neoliberalism
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
''.
As a term, ''libertarian'' or ''economic libertarian'' has the most colloquial acceptance to describe a member of the movement, with the latter term being based on both the ideology's primacy of economics and its distinction from libertarians of the New Left.
While both historical libertarianism and contemporary economic libertarianism share general antipathy towards power by government authority, the latter exempts power wielded through
free-market capitalism
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
. Historically, libertarians including
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...
and
Max Stirner
Johann Kaspar Schmidt (25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner, was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is often seen a ...
supported the protection of an individual's freedom from powers of government and private ownership. In contrast, while condemning governmental encroachment on personal liberties, modern American libertarians support freedoms on the basis of their agreement with private property rights. The abolishment of public amenities is a common theme in modern American libertarian writings.
According to modern American libertarian
Walter Block
Walter Edward Block (born August 21, 1941) is an American Austrian School economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist. He currently holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at the School of Business at Loyola Universit ...
, left-libertarians and right-libertarians agree with certain libertarian premises, but "where
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
differ is in terms of the logical implications of these founding axioms".
[Block, Walter (2010)]
"Libertarianism Is Unique and Belongs Neither to the Right Nor the Left: A Critique of the Views of Long, Holcombe, and Baden on the Left, Hoppe, Feser, and Paul on the Right"
. ''Journal of Libertarian Studies
Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973).
It wa ...
''. 22. pp. 127–170. Although several modern American libertarians reject the
political spectrum
A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politi ...
, especially the
left–right political spectrum
The left–right political spectrum is a system of classifying political positions characteristic of left-right politics, ideologies and parties with emphasis placed upon issues of social equality and social hierarchy. In addition to positions o ...
,
[Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)]
"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism"
. ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.[Read, Leonard E. (January 1956)]
"Neither Left Nor Right"
. ''The Freeman
''The Freeman'' (formerly published as ''The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty'' or ''Ideas on Liberty'') was an American libertarian magazine, formerly published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). It was founded in 1950 by John Chamberl ...
''. 48 (2): 71–73.[Browne, Harry (21 December 1998)]
"The Libertarian Stand on Abortion"
. HarryBrowne.org. Retrieved 14 January 2020.[Raimondo, Justin (2000). ''An Enemy of the State''. Chapter 4: "Beyond left and right". Prometheus Books. p. 159.][Machan, Tibor R. (2004)]
"Neither Left Nor Right: Selected Columns"
. 522. Hoover Institution Press
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...
. . several strands of libertarianism in the United States and right-libertarianism have been described as being right-wing,
New Right
New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...
or
radical right and
reactionary
In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...
.
While some American libertarians such as
Walter Block
Walter Edward Block (born August 21, 1941) is an American Austrian School economist and anarcho-capitalist theorist. He currently holds the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Economics at the School of Business at Loyola Universit ...
,
Harry Browne
Harry Edson Browne (June 17, 1933 – March 1, 2006) was an American writer, politician, and investment advisor. He was the Libertarian Party's Presidential nominee in the U.S. elections of 1996 and 2000. He authored 12 books that in total have ...
,
Tibor Machan
Tibor Richard Machan (; 18 March 1939 – 24 March 2016) was a Hungarian-American philosopher. A professor emeritus in the department of philosophy at Auburn University, Machan held the R. C. Hoiles Chair of Business Ethics and Free Enterprise ...
,
Justin Raimondo
Justin Raimondo (born Dennis Raimondo; November 18, 1951 – June 27, 2019) was an American author and the editorial director of Antiwar.com. He described himself as a "conservative- paleo-libertarian."
Early life
Born in White Plains, New Y ...
,
Leonard Read
Leonard Edward Read (September 26, 1898 – May 14, 1983) was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), one of the first free market think tanks in the United States. He wrote 29 books and numerous essays, including the well-k ...
and
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...
deny any association with either the left or right, other American libertarians such as
Kevin Carson
Kevin Carson is an American political writer and blogger. While he originally identified as a mutualist, Richman, Sheldon (February 3, 2011"Libertarian Left: Free-market anti-capitalism, the unknown ideal" ''The American Conservative''. he now des ...
,
Karl Hess
Karl Hess (born Carl Hess III; May 25, 1923 – April 22, 1994) was an American speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, and libertarian activist. His career included stints on ...
, and Roderick T. Long have written about libertarianism's left-wing opposition to authoritarian rule and argued that libertarianism is fundamentally a left-wing position. Rothbard himself previously made the same point.
The ''
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
'' defines libertarianism as the
moral
A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...
view that agents initially fully own themselves and have certain moral powers to acquire property rights in external things.
Libertarian historian
George Woodcock
George Woodcock (; May 8, 1912 – January 28, 1995) was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, a philosopher, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet and published several volumes of travel wri ...
defines libertarianism as the philosophy that fundamentally doubts authority and advocates transforming society by reform or revolution. Libertarian philosopher Roderick T. Long defines libertarianism as "any political position that advocates a radical redistribution of power from the coercive state to voluntary associations of free individuals", whether "voluntary association" takes the form of the free market or of communal co-operatives. According to the American
Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
* Outline of libertarianism ...
, libertarianism is the advocacy of a government that is funded voluntarily and limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence.
Philosophy
According to the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia, dealing with philosophy, philosophical topics, and philosophers. The IEP combines open access publication with peer reviewed publication of original pape ...
(IEP), "What it means to be a 'libertarian' in a political sense is a contentious issue, especially among libertarians themselves." Nevertheless, all libertarians begin with a conception of
personal autonomy from which they argue in favor of civil liberties and a reduction or elimination of the state.
People described as being left-libertarian or right-libertarian generally tend to call themselves simply libertarians and refer to their philosophy as libertarianism. As a result, some political scientists and writers classify the forms of libertarianism into two or more groups
to distinguish libertarian views on the nature of
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, r ...
and
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
.
In the United States, proponents of
free-market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
anti-capitalism consciously label themselves as left-libertarians and see themselves as being part of a broad libertarian left.
["Anarchism". In Gaus, Gerald F.; D'Agostino, Fred, eds. (2012). ''The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy''. p. 227.]
Left-libertarianism
Left-libertarianism,Bookchin, Murray; Biehl, Janet (1997). ''The Murray Bookchin Reader''. New York: Cassell. p. 170.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to ...
[Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to Colin Ward''. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press]
p. 4
. . "'Libertarian' and 'libertarianism' are frequently employed by anarchists as synonyms for 'anarchist' and 'anarchism', largely as an attempt to distance themselves from the negative connotations of 'anarchy' and its derivatives. The situation has been vastly complicated in recent decades with the rise of anarcho-capitalism, 'minimal statism' and an extreme right-wing ''laissez-faire'' philosophy advocated by such theorists as Murray Rothbard and Robert Nozick and their adoption of the words 'libertarian' and 'libertarianism'. It has therefore now become necessary to distinguish between their right libertarianism and the left libertarianism of the anarchist tradition".[Marshall, Peter (2008). '' Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism''. London: Harper Perennial]
p. 641
. "Left libertarianism can therefore range from the decentralist who wishes to limit and devolve State power, to the syndicalist who wants to abolish it altogether. It can even encompass the Fabians and the social democrats who wish to socialize the economy but who still see a limited role for the State".[Newman, Saul (2010). ''The Politics of Postanarchism'', Edinburgh University Press]
p. 43
. . "It is important to distinguish between anarchism and certain strands of right-wing libertarianism which at times go by the same name (for example, Murray Rothbard's anarcho-capitalism). There is a complex debate within this tradition between those like Robert Nozick, who advocate a 'minimal state', and those like Rothbard who want to do away with the state altogether and allow all transactions to be governed by the market alone. From an anarchist perspective, however, both positions—the minimal state (minarchist) and the no-state ('anarchist') positions—neglect the problem of economic domination; in other words, they neglect the hierarchies, oppressions, and forms of exploitation that would inevitably arise in a ''laissez-faire'' 'free' market. ..Anarchism, therefore, has no truck with this right-wing libertarianism, not only because it neglects economic inequality and domination, but also because in practice (and theory) it is highly inconsistent and contradictory. The individual freedom invoked by right-wing libertarians is only a narrow economic freedom within the constraints of a capitalist market, which, as anarchists show, is no freedom at all". encompasses those libertarian beliefs that claim the Earth's natural resources belong to everyone in an egalitarian manner, either unowned or owned collectively.
[ Kymlicka, Will (2005). "libertarianism, left-". In Honderich, Ted. ''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy''. New York City: ]Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. p. 516. . "'Left-libertarianism' is a new term for an old conception of justice, dating back to Grotius. It combines the libertarian assumption that each person possesses a natural right of self-ownership over his person with the egalitarian premiss that natural resources should be shared equally. Right-wing libertarians argue that the right of self-ownership entails the right to appropriate unequal parts of the external world, such as unequal amounts of land. According to left-libertarians, however, the world's natural resources were initially unowned, or belonged equally to all, and it is illegitimate for anyone to claim exclusive private ownership of these resources to the detriment of others. Such private appropriation is legitimate only if everyone can appropriate an equal amount, or if those who appropriate more are taxed to compensate those who are thereby excluded from what was once common property. Historic proponents of this view include Thomas Paine, Herbert Spencer, and Henry George. Recent exponents include Philippe Van Parijs and Hillel Steiner." Contemporary left-libertarians such as
Hillel Steiner
Hillel Isaac Steiner (; born 1942) is a Canadian political philosopher and is Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Manchester. He was elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy in 1999.
Work
Steiner's writings ar ...
,
Peter Vallentyne
Peter Vallentyne (; born March 25, 1952, in New Haven, Connecticut) is Florence G. Kline Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He holds dual citizenship in the United States and Canada.
Biography
Vallenty ...
,
Philippe Van Parijs
Philippe Van Parijs (; born 1951) is a Belgian political philosopher and political economist, best known as a proponent and main defender of the concept of an unconditional basic income and for the first systematic treatment of linguistic jus ...
,
Michael Otsuka
Michael H. Otsuka (born 1964) is an American left-libertarian political philosopher and Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University.
Career
Otsuka earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in politics from Balliol College, Oxf ...
and
David Ellerman
David Patterson Ellerman (born 14 March 1943) is a philosopher and author who works in the fields of economics and political economy, social theory and philosophy, quantum mechanics, and in mathematics. He has written extensively on workplace dem ...
believe the appropriation of land must leave "
enough and as good" for others or be taxed by society to compensate for the exclusionary effects of private property.
Socialist libertarian
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...
s
such as
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
and
individualist anarchist
Individualist anarchism is the branch of anarchism that emphasizes the individual and their Will (philosophy), will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions and ideological systems."What do I mean by individualism? I mean ...
s,
libertarian Marxist
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...
s,
council communist
Council communism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. Strong in Germany a ...
s,
Luxemburgist
Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialist, Marxist philosopher and anti-war activist. Successively, she was a member of the Proletariat pa ...
s and
De Leonist
De Leonism, also known as Marxism-De Leonism, is a Marxist tendency developed by Curaçaoan-American trade union organizer and Marxist theoretician Daniel De Leon. De Leon was an early leader of the first American socialist political party, ...
s promote
usufruct
Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'':
* ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directl ...
and
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
economic theories, including
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
,
collectivism
Collectivism may refer to:
* Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin
* Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production
* Collectiv ...
,
syndicalism
Syndicalism is a Revolutionary politics, revolutionary current within the Left-wing politics, left-wing of the Labour movement, labor movement that seeks to unionize workers Industrial unionism, according to industry and advance their demands t ...
and
mutualism.
They criticize the state for being the defender of private property and believe capitalism entails
wage slavery
Wage slavery or slave wages refers to a person's dependence on wages (or a salary) for their livelihood, especially when wages are low, treatment and conditions are poor, and there are few chances of upward mobility.
The term is often used ...
.
Right-libertarianism
Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
[Marshall, Peter (2008). '' Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism''. London: Harper Perennial. p. 565. "The problem with the term 'libertarian' is that it is now also used by the Right. ..In its moderate form, right libertarianism embraces ''laissez-faire'' liberals like Robert Nozick who call for a minimal State, and in its extreme form, anarcho-capitalists like Murray Rothbard and David Friedman who entirely repudiate the role of the State and look to the market as a means of ensuring social order".][Carlson, Jennifer D. (2012). "Libertarianism". In Miller, Wilburn R., ed. ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America''. London: Sage Publications]
p. 1006
. . developed in the United States in the mid-20th century from the works of European writers like
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
,
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Haye ...
and
Ludwig Von Mises
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (; 29 September 1881 – 10 October 1973) was an Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and Sociology, sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberali ...
and is the most popular conception of
libertarianism in the United States
In the United States, libertarianism is a political philosophy promoting individual liberty. According to common meanings of conservatism and liberalism in the United States, libertarianism has been described as ''conservative'' on economic iss ...
today.
[Lester, J. C. (22 October 2017)]
"New-Paradigm Libertarianism: a Very Brief Explanation"
. PhilPapers. Retrieved 26 June 2019. Commonly referred to as a continuation or radicalization of
classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition
Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture.
Definition
Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
, the most important of these early right-libertarian philosophers was
Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University, .
While sharing left-libertarians' advocacy for social freedom, right-libertarians value the
social institutions
Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
that enforce conditions of capitalism while rejecting institutions that function in opposition to these on the grounds that such interventions represent unnecessary coercion of individuals and abrogation of their economic freedom.
Anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforce ...
s
seek the elimination of the state in favor of privately funded security services while minarchists defend
night-watchman state
A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggres ...
s which maintain only those functions of government necessary to safeguard natural rights, understood in terms of self-ownership or autonomy.
Libertarian paternalism
Libertarian paternalism is the idea that it is both possible and legitimate for private and public institutions to affect behavior while also respecting freedom of choice, as well as the implementation of that idea. The term was coined by behav ...
[Thaler, Richard; Sunstein, Cass (2003). "Libertarian Paternalism". ''The American Economic Review''. 93: 175–179.] is a position advocated in the international bestseller ''Nudge'' by two American scholars, namely the economist
Richard Thaler
Richard H. Thaler (; born September 12, 1945) is an American economist and the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2015, Thaler was pr ...
and the jurist
Cass Sunstein
Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his studies of constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, law and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...
. In the book ''Thinking, Fast and Slow'',
Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman (; he, דניאל כהנמן; born March 5, 1934) is an Israeli-American psychologist and economist notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics, for which he was award ...
provides the brief summary: "Thaler and Sunstein advocate a position of libertarian paternalism, in which the state and other institutions are allowed to ''Nudge'' people to make decisions that serve their own long-term interests. The designation of joining a pension plan as the default option is an example of a nudge. It is difficult to argue that anyone's freedom is diminished by being automatically enrolled in the plan, when they merely have to check a box to opt out".
''Nudge'' is considered an important piece of literature in
behavioral economics
Behavioral economics studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the decisions of individuals or institutions, such as how those decisions vary from those implied by classical economic theory. ...
.
Neo-libertarianism
Neo-libertarianism is a political and social philosophy that combines "the libertarian's moral commitment to negative liberty with a procedure that selects principles for restricting liberty on the basis of a unanimous agreement in which everyone ...
combines "the libertarian's moral commitment to
negative liberty
Negative liberty is freedom from interference by other people. Negative liberty is primarily concerned with freedom from external restraint and contrasts with positive liberty (the possession of the power and resources to fulfill one's own pote ...
with a procedure that selects principles for restricting liberty on the basis of a unanimous agreement in which everyone's particular interests receive a fair hearing".
[Sterba, James (2013). ''The Pursuit of Justice''. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 66. .] Neo-libertarianism has its roots at least as far back as 1980, when it was first described by the American philosopher James Sterba of the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
. Sterba observed that libertarianism advocates for a government that does no more than protection against force, fraud, theft, enforcement of contracts and other
negative liberties
Negative liberty is freedom from interference by other people. Negative liberty is primarily concerned with freedom from external restraint and contrasts with positive liberty (the possession of the power and resources to fulfill one's own pote ...
as contrasted with
positive liberties
Positive liberty is the possession of the power and resources to act in the context of the structural limitations of the broader society which impacts a person's ability to act, as opposed to negative liberty, which is freedom from external restra ...
by
Isaiah Berlin
Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...
. Sterba contrasted this with the older libertarian ideal of a night watchman state, or minarchism. Sterba held that it is "obviously impossible for everyone in society to be guaranteed complete liberty as defined by this ideal: after all, people's actual wants as well as their conceivable wants can come into serious conflict.
.. is also impossible for everyone in society to be completely free from the interference of other persons". In 2013, Sterna wrote that "I shall show that moral commitment to an ideal of 'negative' liberty, which does not lead to a night-watchman state, but instead requires sufficient government to provide each person in society with the relatively high minimum of liberty that persons using
Rawls'
decision procedure
In computability theory and computational complexity theory, a decision problem is a computational problem that can be posed as a yes–no question of the input values. An example of a decision problem is deciding by means of an algorithm wheth ...
would select. The political program actually justified by an ideal of negative liberty I shall call ''Neo-Libertarianism''".
Libertarian populism combines libertarian and populist politics. According to
Jesse Walker
Jesse Walker (born September 4, 1970) is books editor of ''Reason'' magazine. The University of Michigan alumnus has written the books ''The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory'' (HarperCollins, 2013) and ''Rebels on the Air: An Alter ...
, writing in the libertarian magazine ''
Reason
Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...
'', libertarian populists oppose "big government" while also opposing "other large, centralized institutions" and advocate "tak
ngan axe to the thicket of corporate subsidies, favors, and bailouts, clearing our way to an economy where businesses that can't make money serving customers don't have the option of wringing profits from the taxpayers instead."
Non-aggression principle
Pro-private property libertarians espouse the
non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle (NAP), also called the non-aggression axiom, is a concept in which aggression, defined as initiating or threatening any forceful interference (violating or breaching conduct) against either an individual, their propert ...
, which is the concept that a person or organization cannot use
force
In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...
or
coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
on an individual or someone else's property to achieve their objectives. Under this principle you can defend yourself using force but you can not initiate force upon someone else. If force is initiated by someone the state will get involved to protect
life, liberty, and property
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is a well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. Scanned image of the Jefferson's "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence, written in June 1776, including ...
. The government therefore has a monopoly of force and violence and if it should exist at any capacity, it would be only to protect society from
criminals
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
who violate the non-aggression principle.
Social contract theory
The
Social contract
In moral and political philosophy
Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships betw ...
is the
consent
Consent occurs when one person voluntarily agrees to the proposal or desires of another. It is a term of common speech, with specific definitions as used in such fields as the law, medicine, research, and sexual relationships. Consent as und ...
of the governed to the
State
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
. The foundation of this contract is the
Non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle (NAP), also called the non-aggression axiom, is a concept in which aggression, defined as initiating or threatening any forceful interference (violating or breaching conduct) against either an individual, their propert ...
, where the state also abides by the social contract of non-aggression except to defend its citizens from
criminals
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
that violate the non-aggression principle.
Tax is theft
Anarcho-capitalists
Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforce ...
,
objectivists
Objectivism is a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer and philosopher Ayn Rand. She described it as "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement ...
, most
minarchists
A night-watchman state, or minarchy, whose proponents are known as minarchists, is a model of a state that is limited and minimal, whose functions depend on libertarian theory. Right-libertarians support it only as an enforcer of the non-aggr ...
,
right-wing libertarians, and
voluntaryists believe that
taxation is theft because it violates the
non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle (NAP), also called the non-aggression axiom, is a concept in which aggression, defined as initiating or threatening any forceful interference (violating or breaching conduct) against either an individual, their propert ...
and therefore it is
immoral
Immorality is the violation of moral laws, norms or standards. It refers to an agent doing or thinking something they know or believe to be wrong. Immorality is normally applied to people or actions, or in a broader sense, it can be applied to gr ...
. A libertarian form of
Modern Monetary Theory
Modern Monetary Theory or Modern Money Theory (MMT) is a heterodox
*
*
*
*
*
* macroeconomic theory that describes currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as evidence that a currency monopolist is overly restricting the supply of t ...
is one concept to overcome the conundrum of how the government could raise money without imposing taxes.
Spontaneous order
Libertarians argue that some forms of order within society
emerge spontaneously from the actions of many different individuals acting independently from one another without any
central planning
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
.
No tax State and local governments
With a
sovereign wealth fund
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), sovereign investment fund, or social wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such ...
, State wealth fund, local wealth fund, or social wealth fund that acts like an
endowment
Endowment most often refers to:
*A term for human penis size
It may also refer to: Finance
*Financial endowment, pertaining to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals (e.g., college endowment)
*Endowment mortgage, a mortgage to b ...
where a
State
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
or
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
could live off the
investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
dividend
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-in ...
s or
yield from
bonds for government revenue instead of
tax revenue
Tax revenue is the income that is collected by governments through taxation. Taxation is the primary source of government revenue. Revenue may be extracted from sources such as individuals, public enterprises, trade, royalties on natural resou ...
s.
Typology
In the United States, ''libertarian'' is a typology used to describe a political position that advocates
small government
Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...
and is
culturally liberal
Cultural liberalism is a social philosophy which expresses the social dimension of liberalism and advocates the freedom of individuals to choose whether to conform to cultural norms. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, it is often expressed a ...
and
fiscally conservative
Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...
in a two-dimensional political spectrum such as the libertarian-inspired
Nolan Chart
The Nolan Chart is a political spectrum diagram created by American libertarian activist David Nolan in 1969, charting political views along two axes, representing economic freedom and personal freedom. It expands political view analysis beyond ...
, where the other major typologies are ''
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
'', ''
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
'' and ''
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
''.
[Arbor, Ann. ''The ANES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior, 1948–2004''. American National Election Studies.] ''Libertarians'' support legalization of victimless crimes such as the use of marijuana while opposing high levels of taxation and government spending on health, welfare and education.
''Libertarians'' also support a foreign policy of
non-interventionism
Non-interventionism or non-intervention is a political philosophy or national foreign policy doctrine that opposes interference in the domestic politics and affairs of other countries but, in contrast to isolationism, is not necessarily opposed ...
''.
[Olsen, Edward A. (2002). ''US National Defense for the Twenty-First Century: The Grand Exit Strategy''. ]Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...
p. 182
. .'' ''Libertarian'' was adopted in the United States, where ''liberal'' had become associated with a version that supports extensive government spending on social policies.
''Libertarian'' may also refer to an
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
ideology that developed in the 19th century and to a liberal version which developed in the United States that is avowedly pro-
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
.
According to polls, approximately one in four Americans self-identify as ''libertarian''.
["Gallup Database: 2006 Survey Results"](_blank)
. Gallup. Retrieved 23 December 2019.[Kiley, Jocelyn (25 August 2014)]
"In Search of Libertarians"
. Pew Research Center. "14% say the term libertarian describes them well; 77% of those know the definition (11% of total), while 23% do not (3% of total)."[Becker, Amanda (30 April 2015)]
"Americans don't like big government – but like many programs: poll"
. Retrieved 31 October 2019.[Boaz, David (10 February 2016)]
"Gallup Finds More Libertarians in the Electorate"
. Retrieved 31 October 2019. While this group is not typically ideologically driven, the term ''libertarian'' is commonly used to describe the form of libertarianism widely practiced in the United States and is the common meaning of the word ''libertarianism'' in the United States.
This form is often named ''
liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
'' elsewhere such as in Europe, where ''liberalism'' has a different common meaning than in the United States.
In some academic circles, this form is called ''
right-libertarianism
Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
'' as a complement to ''
left-libertarianism
Left-libertarianism,Bookchin, Murray; Biehl, Janet (1997). ''The Murray Bookchin Reader''. New York: Cassell. p. 170.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow: Left-Libertarian Thought and British Writers from William Morris to ...
'', with acceptance of capitalism or the private ownership of land as being the distinguishing feature.
History
Liberalism
![JohnLocke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/JohnLocke.png)
Elements of libertarianism can be traced as far back as the ancient Chinese philosopher
Lao-Tzu
Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state of ...
, who argued that rulers should "do nothing" because "without law or compulsion, men would dwell in harmony." Elements of libertarianism can also be traced back to the higher-law concepts of the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
and the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
, and
Christian theologians
Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exeges ...
who argued for the moral worth of the individual and the division of the world into two realms, one of which is the province of God and thus beyond the power of states to control it.
[Boaz, David (21 November 1998)]
"Preface for the Japanese Edition of Libertarianism: A Primer"
. Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...
. Retrieved 10 December 2019. Libertarianism was influenced by debates within
Scholasticism
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
regarding private property and
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
.
Scholastic thinkers, including
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
,
Francisco de Vitoria
Francisco de Vitoria ( – 12 August 1546; also known as Francisco de Victoria) was a Spanish Roman Catholic philosophy, philosopher, theology, theologian, and jurist of Renaissance Spain. He is the founder of the tradition in philosophy known ...
, and Bartolomé de las Casas, Bartolomé de Las Casas, argued for the concept of "self-mastery" as the foundation of a system supporting individual rights.
In 17th-century England, libertarian ideas began to take modern form in the writings of the Levellers and
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
. In the middle of that century, opponents of royal power began to be called Whigs (British political party), Whigs, or sometimes simply Opposition or Country, as opposed to Court writers.
[Boaz, David (7 March 2007)]
"A Note on Labels: Why 'Libertarian'?"
''Libertarianism.org''. Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...
. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
During the 18th century and Age of Enlightenment,
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
ideas flourished in Europe and North America. Libertarians of various schools were influenced by liberal ideas.
[Otero, Carlos Peregrin, ed. (1994). ''Noam Chomsky: Critical Assessments, Volumes 2–3''. Taylor & Francis]
p. 617
. . For philosopher Roderick T. Long, libertarians "share a common—or at least an overlapping—intellectual ancestry. [Libertarians]
..claim the seventeenth century English Levellers and the eighteenth century French Encyclopedists among their ideological forebears; and
..usually share an admiration for Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine".
![Thomas Paine rev1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Thomas_Paine_rev1.jpg)
John Locke greatly influenced both libertarianism and the modern world in his writings published before and after the Glorious Revolution, English Revolution of 1688, especially ''A Letter Concerning Toleration'' (1667), ''Two Treatises of Government'' (1689) and ''An Essay Concerning Human Understanding'' (1690). In the text of 1689, he established the basis of liberal political theory, i.e. that people's rights existed before government; that the purpose of government is to protect personal and property rights; that people may dissolve governments that do not do so; and that representative government is the best form to protect rights.
The United States Declaration of Independence was inspired by Locke in its statement: "[T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it".
[Rothbard, Murray (1973) [2006]]
"The Libertarian Heritage: The American Revolution and Classical Liberalism"
. In ''For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto''. LewRockwell.com. Retrieved 10 December 2019. According to American historian Bernard Bailyn, during and after the American Revolution, "the major themes of eighteenth-century libertarianism were brought to realization" in Constitution, constitutions, Bill of rights, bills of rights, and limits on legislative and executive powers, including limits on starting wars.
According to
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...
, the libertarian creed emerged from the liberal challenges to an "absolute central State and a king ruling by divine right on top of an older, restrictive web of feudal land monopolies and urban guild controls and restrictions" as well as the mercantilism of a bureaucratic warfaring state allied with privileged merchants. The object of liberals was individual liberty in the economy, in personal freedoms and civil liberty, separation of state and religion and peace as an alternative to imperial aggrandizement. He cites Locke's contemporaries, the Levellers, who held similar views. Also influential were the English ''Cato's Letters'' during the early 1700s, reprinted eagerly by Colonial history of the United States, American colonists who already were free of European aristocracy and feudal land monopolies.
[
In January 1776, only two years after coming to America from England, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet ''Common Sense (pamphlet), Common Sense'' calling for independence for the colonies.][Sprading, Charles T. (1913) [1995]. ''Liberty and the Great Libertarians''. Mises Institute]
p. 74
. . Paine promoted liberal ideas in clear and concise language that allowed the general public to understand the debates among the political elites. ''Common Sense'' was immensely popular in disseminating these ideas, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Paine would later write the ''Rights of Man'' and ''The Age of Reason'' and participate in the French Revolution.[ Paine's theory of property showed a "libertarian concern" with the redistribution of resources.
In 1793, William Godwin wrote a libertarian philosophical treatise titled ''Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness'' which criticized ideas of human rights and of society by contract based on vague promises. He took liberalism to its logical anarchic conclusion by rejecting all political institutions, law, government and apparatus of coercion as well as all political protest and insurrection. Instead of institutionalized justice, Godwin proposed that people influence one another to moral goodness through informal reasoned persuasion, including in the associations they joined as this would facilitate happiness.
]
Libertarian socialism
''Libertarian communism'', ''libertarian Marxism'' and ''libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (201 ...
'' are all terms which activists with a variety of perspectives have applied to their views. Anarchist communist philosopher Joseph Déjacque
Joseph Déjacque (; 27 December 1821, in Paris – 1864, in Paris) was a French early anarcho-communist poet, philosopher and writer. He coined the term "libertarian" (French: ''libertaire'') for himselfJoseph DéjacqueDe l'être-humain mâle e ...
was the first person to describe himself as a ''libertarian[Joseph Déjacque]
De l'être-humain mâle et femelle – Lettre à P.J. Proudhon par Joseph Déjacque
(in French).'' in an 1857 letter. Unlike mutualist anarchist philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
, he argued that "it is not the product of his or her labor that the worker has a right to, but to the satisfaction of his or her needs, whatever may be their nature".[Robert Graham, ''Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas – Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)'', Black Rose Books, 2005] According to anarchist historian Max Nettlau, the first use of the term ''libertarian communism'' was in November 1880, when a French anarchist congress employed it to more clearly identify its doctrines. The French anarchist journalist Sébastien Faure
Sébastien Faure (6 January 1858 – 14 July 1942) was a French anarchist, freethought and secularist activist and a principal proponent of synthesis anarchism.
Biography
Before becoming a free-thinker, Faure was a seminarist. He engaged ...
started the weekly paper ''Le Libertaire'' (''The Libertarian'') in 1895.
Individualist anarchism represents several traditions of thought within the anarchist movement that emphasize the individual and their will over any kinds of external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems.["What do I mean by individualism? I mean by individualism the moral doctrine which, relying on no dogma, no tradition, no external determination, appeals only to the individual conscience]
''Mini-Manual of Individualism'' by Han Ryner
/ref>["I do not admit anything except the existence of the individual, as a condition of his sovereignty. To say that the sovereignty of the individual is conditioned by Liberty is simply another way of saying that it is conditioned by itself.""Anarchism and the State" in ''Individual Liberty''] An influential form of individualist anarchism called egoism[Goodway, David. Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow. Liverpool University Press, 2006, p. 99.] or egoist anarchism was expounded by one of the earliest and best-known proponents of individualist anarchism, the German Max Stirner
Johann Kaspar Schmidt (25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner, was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is often seen a ...
. Stirner's ''The Ego and Its Own'', published in 1844, is a founding text of the philosophy. According to Stirner, the only limitation on the rights of the individual is their power to obtain what they desire, without regard for God, state or morality. Stirner advocated self-assertion and foresaw Union of egoists, unions of egoists, non-systematic associations continually renewed by all parties' support through an act of will, which Stirner proposed as a form of organisation in place of the state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
.
Josiah Warren is widely regarded as the first American anarchist,[Palmer, Brian (29 December 2010)]
What do anarchists want from us?
. ''Slate.com''. and the four-page weekly paper he edited during 1833, ''The Peaceful Revolutionist'', was the first anarchist periodical published. For American anarchist historian Eunice Minette Schuster, "[i]t is apparent ..that Proudhonian Anarchism was to be found in the United States at least as early as 1848 and that it was not conscious of its affinity to the Individualist Anarchism of Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews. ..William B. Greene presented this Proudhonian Mutualism in its purest and most systematic form".
Later, Benjamin Tucker fused Stirner's egoism with the economics of Warren and Proudhon in his eclectic influential publication ''Liberty''. From these early influences, individualist anarchism in different countries attracted a small yet diverse following of bohemian artists and intellectuals, free love and birth control advocates (anarchism and issues related to love and sex), individualist naturists (anarcho-naturism), free thought and Anti-clericalism, anti-clerical activists as well as young anarchist outlaws in what became known as illegalism and individual reclamation[The "Illegalists"](_blank)
. Doug Imrie (published by Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed).[Parry, Richard. ''The Bonnot Gang''. Rebel Press, 1987. p. 15.] (European individualist anarchism and individualist anarchism in France). These authors and activists included Émile Armand, Han Ryner, Henri Zisly, Renzo Novatore, Miguel Giménez Igualada, Adolf Brand and Lev Chernyi.
In 1873, the follower and translator of Proudhon, the Catalan Francesc Pi i Margall, became President of Spain with a program which wanted "to establish a decentralized, or "cantonalist," political system on Proudhonian lines", who according to Rudolf Rocker had "political ideas, ..much in common with those of Richard Price, Joseph Priestly [''sic''], Thomas Paine, Jefferson, and other representatives of the Anglo-American liberalism of the first period. He wanted to limit the power of the state to a minimum and gradually replace it by a Socialist economic order". On the other hand, Fermín Salvochea was a mayor of the city of Cádiz and a president of the province of Cádiz. He was one of the main propagators of anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...
thought in that area in the late 19th century and is considered to be "perhaps the most beloved figure in the Anarchism in Spain, Spanish Anarchist movement of the 19th century".[Bookchin, Murray (1998). ''The Spanish Anarchists''. pp. 111–114.] Ideologically, he was influenced by Charles Bradlaugh, Bradlaugh, Robert Owen, Owen and Thomas Paine, Paine, whose works he had studied during his stay in England and Kropotkin, whom he read later.
The Revolutions of 1917–1923, revolutionary wave of 1917–1923 saw the active participation of anarchists in Russia and Europe. Russian anarchists participated alongside the Bolsheviks in both the February Revolution, February and October Revolution, October 1917 revolutions. However, Bolsheviks in central Russia quickly began to imprison or drive underground the libertarian anarchists. Many fled to Ukraine, where they fought for the Makhnovshchina in the Russian Civil War against the White movement, monarchists and other opponents of revolution and then against Bolsheviks as part of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno, who established an anarchist society in the region. The victory of the Bolsheviks damaged anarchist movements internationally as workers and activists joined Communist party, Communist parties. In France and the United States, for example, members of the major syndicalist movements of the Confédération générale du travail, CGT and Industrial Workers of the World, IWW joined the Comintern, Communist International. In Paris, the Dielo Truda group of Russian anarchist exiles, which included Nestor Makhno, issued a 1926 manifesto, the ''Organizational Platform of the General Union of Anarchists (Draft)'', calling for new anarchist organizing structures.
With the rise of fascism in Europe between the 1920s and the 1930s, anarchists began to fight fascists in Italy, in France during the 6 February 1934 crisis, February 1934 riots and in Spain where the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo) boycott of elections led to a right-wing victory and its later participation in voting in 1936 helped bring the popular front back to power. This led to a ruling class attempted coup and the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Gruppo Comunista Anarchico di Firenze held that the during early twentieth century, the terms libertarian communism and anarchist communism became synonymous within the international anarchist movement as a result of the close connection they had in Spain (anarchism in Spain), with ''libertarian communism'' becoming the prevalent term.
During autumn of 1931, the "Manifesto of the 30" was published by militants of the anarchist trade union CNT and among those who signed it there was the CNT General Secretary (1922–1923) Joan Peiro, Ángel Pestaña CNT (General Secretary in 1929) and Juan Lopez Sanchez. They were called ''treintismo'' and they were calling for libertarian possibilism which advocated achieving libertarian socialist ends with participation inside structures of contemporary parliamentary democracy. In 1932, they establish the Syndicalist Party which participates in the 1936 Spanish general elections and proceed to be a part of the leftist coalition of parties known as the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front obtaining two congressmen (Pestaña and Benito Pabon). In 1938, Horacio Prieto, general secretary of the CNT, proposes that the Iberian Anarchist Federation transforms itself into the Libertarian Socialist Party and that it participates in the national elections.[Renof, Israël Renof (May 1968)]
''Possibilisme libertaire''
(PDF). ''Noir et Rouge''. 41: 16–23.
The ''Manifesto of Libertarian Communism'' was written in 1953 by Georges Fontenis for the ''Federation Communiste Libertaire'' of France. It is one of the key texts of the anarchist-communist current known as platformism. In 1968, the International of Anarchist Federations was founded during an international anarchist conference in Carrara, Italy to advance libertarian solidarity. It wanted to form "a strong and organized workers movement, agreeing with the libertarian ideas".[Short history of the IAF-IFA](_blank)
A-infos news project, Accessed 19 January 2010. In the United States, the Libertarian League was founded in New York City in 1954 as a left-libertarian political organization building on the Libertarian Book Club. Members included Sam Dolgoff, Russell Blackwell, Dave Van Ronk, Enrico Arrigoni and Murray Bookchin.
In Australia, the Sydney Push was a predominantly left-wing intellectual subculture in Sydney from the late 1940s to the early 1970s which became associated with the label Sydney libertarianism. Well known associates of the Push include A. J. Baker, Jim Baker, John Flaus, Harry Hooton, Margaret Fink, Sasha Soldatow, Lex Banning, Eva Cox, Richard Appleton, Padraic McGuinness, Paddy McGuinness, David Makinson, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Robert Hughes (critic), Robert Hughes, Frank Moorhouse and Lillian Roxon. Amongst the key intellectual figures in Push debates were philosophers David J. Ivison, George Molnar (philosopher), George Molnar, Roelof Smilde, Darcy Waters and Jim Baker, as recorded in Baker's memoir ''Sydney Libertarians and the Push'', published in the libertarian ''Broadsheet'' in 1975. An understanding of libertarian values and social theory can be obtained from their publications, a few of which are available online.
In 1969, French platformist anarcho-communist Daniel Guérin published an essay in 1969 called "Libertarian Marxism?" in which he dealt with the debate between Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin at the First International. Libertarian Marxist currents often draw from Marx and Engels' later works, specifically the ''Grundrisse'' and ''The Civil War in France''. They emphasize the Marxist belief in the ability of the working class to forge its own destiny without the need for a revolutionary party or state. Libertarian Marxism includes currents such as autonomism, council communism, left communism, Letterist International, Lettrism, New Left
The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
, Situationism, Socialisme ou Barbarie and operaismo, among others.
In the United States, there existed from 1970 to 1981 the publication ''Root & Branch'' which had as a subtitle ''A Libertarian Marxist Journal''. In 1974, the ''Libertarian Communism (journal), Libertarian Communism'' journal was started in the United Kingdom by a group inside the Socialist Party of Great Britain. In 1986, the anarcho-syndicalist Sam Dolgoff started and led the publication ''Libertarian Labor Review'' in the United States which decided to rename itself as ''Anarcho-Syndicalist Review'' in order to avoid confusion with right-libertarian views.
20th-century libertarianism in the United States
By around the start of the 20th century, the heyday of individualist anarchism had passed. H. L. Mencken and Albert Jay Nock were the first prominent figures in the United States to describe themselves as ''libertarian'' as synonym for ''liberal''. They believed that Franklin D. Roosevelt had co-opted the word ''liberal'' for his New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
policies which they opposed and used ''libertarian'' to signify their allegiance to classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is a political tradition
Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture.
Definition
Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...
, individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
and limited government
In political philosophy, limited government is the concept of a government limited in power. It is a key concept in the history of liberalism.Amy Gutmann, "How Limited Is Liberal Government" in Liberalism Without Illusions: Essays on Liberal Theo ...
.
According to David Boaz, in 1943 three women "published books that could be said to have given birth to the modern libertarian movement". Isabel Paterson's ''The God of the Machine'', Rose Wilder Lane's ''The Discovery of Freedom'' and Ayn Rand's ''The Fountainhead'' each promoted individualism and capitalism. None of the three used the term libertarianism to describe their beliefs and Rand specifically rejected the label, criticizing the burgeoning American libertarian movement as the "hippies of the right". Rand accused libertarians of plagiarizing ideas related to her own philosophy of Objectivism and yet viciously attacking other aspects of it.
In 1946, Leonard E. Read founded the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), an American nonprofit educational organization which promotes the principles of ''laissez-faire'' economics, private property and limited government. According to Gary North (economist), Gary North, the FEE is the "granddaddy of all libertarian organizations".
Karl Hess
Karl Hess (born Carl Hess III; May 25, 1923 – April 22, 1994) was an American speechwriter and author. He was also a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, and libertarian activist. His career included stints on ...
, a speechwriter for Barry Goldwater and primary author of the Republican Party's 1960 and 1964 Party platform, platforms, became disillusioned with traditional politics following the 1964 United States presidential election, 1964 presidential campaign in which Goldwater lost to Lyndon B. Johnson. He and his friend Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...
, an Austrian School economist, founded the journal ''Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought'', which was published from 1965 to 1968, with George Resch and Leonard P. Liggio. In 1969, they edited ''The Libertarian Forum'' which Hess left in 1971.
The Vietnam War split the uneasy alliance between growing numbers of American libertarians and conservatives who believed in limiting liberty to uphold moral virtues. Libertarians opposed to the war joined the Draft dodger, draft resistance and peace movements as well as organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). In 1969 and 1970, Hess joined with others, including Murray Rothbard, Robert LeFevre, Dana Rohrabacher, Samuel Edward Konkin III and former SDS leader Carl Oglesby to speak at two conferences which brought together activists from both the New Left and the Old Right in what was emerging as a nascent libertarian movement. Rothbard ultimately broke with the left, allying himself with the burgeoning paleoconservative movement. He criticized the tendency of these libertarians to appeal to "'free spirits,' to people who don't want to push other people around, and who don't want to be pushed around themselves" in contrast to "the bulk of Americans" who "might well be tight-assed conformists, who want to stamp out drugs in their vicinity, kick out people with strange dress habits, etc." Rothbard emphasized that this was relevant as a matter of strategy as the failure to pitch the libertarian message to Middle America might result in the loss of "the tight-assed majority". This Left-wing market anarchism, left-libertarian tradition has been carried to the present day by Konkin III's agorists, contemporary mutualists such as Kevin Carson
Kevin Carson is an American political writer and blogger. While he originally identified as a mutualist, Richman, Sheldon (February 3, 2011"Libertarian Left: Free-market anti-capitalism, the unknown ideal" ''The American Conservative''. he now des ...
, Roderick T. Long and others such as Gary Chartier Charles W. Johnson Sheldon Richman,[Richman, Sheldon (3 February 2011)]
"Libertarian Left: Free-market anti-capitalism, the unknown ideal"
''The American Conservative''. . Retrieved 5 March 2012. Chris Matthew Sciabarra and Brad Spangler.
In 1971, a small group led by David Nolan (libertarian), David Nolan formed the Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
* Outline of libertarianism ...
, which has run a presidential candidate every election year since 1972. Other libertarian organizations, such as the Center for Libertarian Studies and the Cato Institute, were also formed in the 1970s. Philosopher John Hospers, a one-time member of Rand's inner circle, proposed a non-initiation of force principle to unite both groups, but this statement later became a required "pledge" for candidates of the Libertarian Party and Hospers became its first presidential candidate in 1972.
Modern libertarianism gained significant recognition in academia with the publication of Harvard University professor Robert Nozick
Robert Nozick (; November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002) was an American philosopher. He held the Joseph Pellegrino University Professorship at Harvard University, 's ''Anarchy, State, and Utopia
''Anarchy, State, and Utopia'' is a 1974 book by the American political philosopher Robert Nozick. It won the 1975 US National Book Award in category Philosophy and Religion, has been translated into 11 languages, and was named one of the "100 m ...
'' in 1974, for which he received a National Book Award in 1975. In response to John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition. Rawls received both the Schock Prize for Logic and Philosophy and the National Humanities Medal in 1 ...
's ''A Theory of Justice
''A Theory of Justice'' is a 1971 work of political philosophy and ethics by the philosopher John Rawls (1921-2002) in which the author attempts to provide a moral theory alternative to utilitarianism and that addresses the problem of distributiv ...
'', Nozick's book supported a Night-watchman state, minimal state (also called a nightwatchman state by Nozick) on the grounds that the ultraminimal state arises without violating individual rights and the transition from an ultraminimal state to a minimal state is morally obligated to occur.
In the early 1970s, Rothbard wrote: "One gratifying aspect of our rise to some prominence is that, for the first time in my memory, we, 'our side,' had captured a crucial word from the enemy. 'Libertarians' had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchists, either of the communist or syndicalist variety. But now we had taken it over". The project of spreading libertarian ideals in the United States has been so successful that some Americans who do not identify as libertarian seem to hold libertarian views. Since the resurgence of neoliberalism in the 1970s, this modern American libertarianism has spread beyond North America via think tanks and political parties.[Teles, Steven; Kenney, Daniel A. (2008). "Spreading the Word: The diffusion of American Conservatism in Europe and Beyond". In Steinmo, Sven (2007)]
''Growing Apart?: America and Europe in the Twenty-First Century''
. Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
. pp. 136–169.[Gregory, Anthony (24 April 2007]
"Real World Politics and Radical Libertarianism"
LewRockwell.com.
In a 1975 interview with ''Reason'', California Governor Ronald Reagan appealed to libertarians when he stated to "believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism".[Klausner, Manuel (July 1975)]
"Inside Ronald Reagan"
''Reason (magazine), Reason''. Retrieved May 2, 2020. Libertarian Republican Ron Paul supported Ronald Reagan 1980 presidential campaign, Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, being one of the first elected officials in the nation to support his campaign and actively campaigned for Reagan in 1976 and 1980. However, Paul quickly became disillusioned with the Reagan administration's policies after Reagan's election in 1980 and later recalled being the only Republican to vote against Reagan budget proposals in 1981. In the 1980s, libertarians such as Paul and Rothbard criticized President Reagan, Reaganomics and policies of the Reagan administration for, among other reasons, having turned the United States' big trade deficit into debt and the United States became a debtor nation for the first time since World War I under the Reagan administration. Rothbard argued that the presidency of Reagan has been "a disaster for libertarianism in the United States" and Paul described Reagan himself as "a dramatic failure".
Contemporary libertarianism
Contemporary libertarian socialism
A surge of popular interest in libertarian socialism occurred in Western nations during the 1960s and 1970s. Anarchism was influential in the counterculture of the 1960s and anarchists actively participated in the protests of 1968 which included students and workers' revolts. In 1968, the International of Anarchist Federations was founded in Carrara, Italy during an international anarchist conference held there in 1968 by the three existing European federations of Anarchist Federation (France), France, the Federazione Anarchica Italiana, Italian and the Iberian Anarchist Federation as well as the Bulgarian Anarchist Federation in French exile. The uprisings of May 1968 in France, May 1968 also led to a small resurgence of interest in left communist ideas. Various small left communist groups emerged around the world, predominantly in the leading capitalist countries. A series of conferences of the communist left began in 1976, with the aim of promoting international and cross-tendency discussion, but these petered out in the 1980s without having increased the profile of the movement or its unity of ideas. Left communist groups existing today include the International Communist Party, International Communist Current and the Internationalist Communist Tendency. The housing and employment crisis in most of Western Europe led to the formation of Commune (intentional community), communes and Squatting, squatter movements like that of Barcelona in Spain. In Denmark, squatters occupied a disused military base and declared the Freetown Christiania, an autonomous haven in central Copenhagen.
Around the turn of the 21st century, libertarian socialism grew in popularity and influence as part of the anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-globalisation movement
The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...
s. Anarchists became known for their involvement in protests against the meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO), G8, Group of Eight and the World Economic Forum. Some anarchist factions at these protests engaged in rioting, property destruction and violent confrontations with police. These actions were precipitated by ad hoc, leaderless, anonymous cadres known as black blocs and other organizational tactics pioneered in this time include security culture, affinity groups and the use of decentralized technologies such as the Internet.[ A significant event of this period was the confrontations at World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity, WTO conference in Seattle in 1999.][ For English anarchist scholar Simon Critchley, "contemporary anarchism can be seen as a powerful critique of the pseudo-libertarianism of contemporary neo-liberalism. One might say that contemporary anarchism is about responsibility, whether sexual, ecological or socio-economic; it flows from an experience of conscience about the manifold ways in which the West ravages the rest; it is an ethical outrage at the yawning inequality, impoverishment and disenfranchisment that is so palpable locally and globally". This might also have been motivated by "the collapse of 'Real socialism, really existing socialism' and the capitulation to neo-liberalism of Western ]social democracy
Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...
".
Libertarian socialists in the early 21st century have been involved in the alter-globalization movement, squatter movement; social centers; infoshops; anti-poverty groups such as Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and Food Not Bombs; Leasehold estate, tenants' unions; housing cooperatives; Intentional community, intentional communities generally and egalitarian communities; anti-sexist organizing; grassroots media initiatives; digital media and computer activism; experiments in participatory economics; anti-racist and anti-fascist groups like Anti-Racist Action and Anti-Fascist Action; activist groups Libertarian perspectives on immigration, protecting the rights of immigrants and promoting the free movement of people such as the No Border network; worker co-operatives, countercultural and artist groups; and the peace movement.
Contemporary libertarianism in the United States
In the United States, polls (circa 2006) find that the views and voting habits of between 10% and 20%, or more, of voting age Americans may be classified as "fiscally conservative
Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''An ...
and Cultural liberalism, socially liberal, or Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian". This is based on pollsters and researchers defining libertarian views as fiscally conservative and socially liberal (based on the common United States meanings of the terms) and against government intervention in economic affairs and for expansion of personal freedoms. In a 2015 Gallup poll, this figure had risen to 27%. A 2015 Reuters poll found that 23% of American voters self-identify as libertarians, including 32% in the 18–29 age group. Through twenty polls on this topic spanning thirteen years, Gallup found that voters who are libertarian on the political spectrum ranged from 17–23% of the United States electorate. However, a 2014 Pew Poll found that 23% of Americans who identify as libertarians have no idea what the word means. In this poll, 11% of respondents both identified as libertarians and understand what the term meant.
In 2001, an American political migration movement, called the Free State Project, was founded to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire, was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas. As of May 2022, approximately 6,232 participants have moved to New Hampshire for the Free State Project.
2009 saw the rise of the Tea Party movement, an American political movement known for advocating a reduction in the United States national debt and federal budget deficit by reducing government spending and taxes, which had a significant libertarian component despite having contrasts with libertarian values and views in some areas such as free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
, immigration, nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and social issues. A 2011 ''Reason''-Rupe poll found that among those who self-identified as Tea Party supporters, 41 percent leaned libertarian and 59 percent Social conservatism in the United States, socially conservative. Named after the Boston Tea Party, it also contains conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
and Right-wing populism in the United States, populist elements and has sponsored multiple protests and supported various political candidates since 2009. Tea Party activities have declined since 2010 with the number of chapters across the country slipping from about 1,000 to 600.["Tea Party 2012: A Look At The Conservative Movement's Last Three Years"](_blank)
. ''The Daily Beast''. 2 February 2012. Mostly, Tea Party organizations are said to have shifted away from national demonstrations to local issues. Following the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012, 2012 vice presidential running mate, ''The New York Times'' declared that Tea Party lawmakers are no longer a fringe of the conservative coalition, but now "indisputably at the core of the modern Republican Party". Donald Trump, President Donald Trump praised the Tea Party movement throughout his Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, 2016 presidential campaign.["Donald Trump courts tea party at Nashville straw poll," By MJ Lee, CNN, August 29, 2015](_blank)
retrieved December 1, 2016. In a January 2016 CNN poll at the beginning of the 2016 Republican primary, Trump led all Republican candidates modestly among self-identified Tea Party voters with 37 percent supporting Trump and 34 percent supporting Ted Cruz. By 2016, ''Politico'' noted that the Tea Party movement was essentially completely dead; however, the article noted that the movement seemed to die in part because some of its ideas had been absorbed by the mainstream Republican Party.
In 2012, anti-war and pro-drug liberalization presidential candidates such as Libertarian Republican Ron Paul and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson raised millions of dollars and garnered millions of votes despite opposition to their obtaining ballot access by both Democrats and Republicans. The 2012 Libertarian National Convention saw Johnson and Jim Gray (jurist), Jim Gray being nominated as the 2012 presidential ticket for the Libertarian Party, resulting in the most successful result for a third-party presidential candidacy since 2000 and the best in the Libertarian Party's history by vote number. Johnson received 1% of the popular vote, amounting to more than 1.2 million votes. Johnson has expressed a desire to win at least 5 percent of the vote so that the Libertarian Party candidates could get equal Election threshold, ballot access and Presidential election campaign fund checkoff, federal funding, thus subsequently ending the two-party system. The 2016 Libertarian National Convention saw Johnson and Bill Weld nominated as the 2016 presidential ticket and resulted in the most successful result for a third-party presidential candidacy since 1996 and the best in the Libertarian Party's history by vote number. Johnson received 3% of the popular vote, amounting to more than 4.3 million votes. Following the 2022 Libertarian National Convention, the Mises Caucus, a Paleolibertarianism, paleolibertarian faction, became the dominant faction on the Libertarian National Committee.
Chicago school of economics economist Milton Friedman made the distinction between being part of the American Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
* Outline of libertarianism ...
and "a libertarian with a small 'l'," where he held libertarian values but belonged to the American Republican Party (United States), Republican Party.
Contemporary libertarian organizations
Current international anarchist federations which identify themselves as libertarian include the International of Anarchist Federations, the IWA–AIT, International Workers' Association and International Libertarian Solidarity. The largest organized anarchist movement today is in Spain, in the form of the Confederacion General del Trabajo de España, Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). CGT membership was estimated to be around 100,000 for 2003. Other active syndicalist movements include the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden and the Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation in Sweden; the Unione Sindacale Italiana in Italy; Workers Solidarity Alliance in the United States; and Solidarity Federation in the United Kingdom. The revolutionary industrial unionist Industrial Workers of the World claiming 2,000 paying members as well as the International Workers' Association, remain active. In the United States, there exists the Common Struggle, Common Struggle – Libertarian Communist Federation.
Since the 1950s, many American libertarian organizations have adopted a free-market stance as well as supporting civil liberties and non-interventionist foreign policies. These include the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Francisco Marroquín University, the Foundation for Economic Education, Center for Libertarian Studies, the Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...
and Liberty International (organization), Liberty International. The activist Free State Project, formed in 2001, works to bring 20,000 libertarians to New Hampshire to influence state policy. Active student organizations include Students for Liberty and Young Americans for Liberty. A number of countries have libertarian parties that run candidates for political office. In the United States, the Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
* Outline of libertarianism ...
was formed in 1972 and is the third largest American political party, with 511,277 voters (0.46% of total electorate) registered as Libertarian in the 31 states that report Libertarian registration statistics and Washington, D.C.
Criticism
Criticism of libertarianism includes ethical, economic, environmental, pragmatic and philosophical concerns, especially in relation to right-libertarianism
Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism" ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...
, including the view that it has no explicit theory of liberty. It has been argued that ''laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
'' capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
does not necessarily produce the best or most efficient outcome, nor does its philosophy of individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
and policies of deregulation prevent the Exploitation of natural resources, abuse of natural resources.
Critics have accused libertarianism of promoting "atomistic" individualism that ignores the role of groups and communities in shaping an individual's identity. Libertarians have responded by denying that they promote this form of individualism, arguing that recognition and protection of individualism does not mean the rejection of community living. Libertarians also argue that they are simply against individuals being forced to have ties with communities and that individuals should be allowed to sever ties with communities they dislike and form new communities instead.
Critics such as Corey Robin describe this type of libertarianism as fundamentally a reactionary
In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...
Conservatism, conservative ideology united with more Traditionalist conservatism, traditionalist conservative thought and goals by a desire to enforce hierarchical power and social relations. Similarly, Nancy MacLean has argued that libertarianism is a Radical right (United States), radical right ideology that has stood against democracy. According to MacLean, libertarian-leaning Charles Koch, Charles and David Koch have used anonymous, dark money campaign contributions, a network of libertarian institutes and lobbying for the appointment of libertarian, pro-business judges to United States federal and state courts to oppose taxes, public education, employee protection laws, environmental protection laws and the New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
Social Security (United States), Social Security program.
Conservative philosopher Russell Kirk argued that libertarians "bear no authority, temporal or spiritual" and do not "venerate ancient beliefs and customs, or the natural world, or [their] country, or the immortal spark in [their] fellow men." Libertarians have responded by saying that they do venerate these ancient traditions, but are against the law being used to force individuals to follow them.
Criticism of left-libertarianism is instead mainly related to anarchism and includes allegations of utopianism,[Landauer, Carl (1959). ''European Socialism: A History of Ideas and Movements''. University of California Press. .] tacit authoritarianism[Debord, Guy; Knabb, Ken, trans. (1993). ''Society of the Spectacle''. London: Rebel Press. .]["The problem of organisation and the notion of synthesis"](_blank)
. Libcom.org. 26 December 2005. Retrieved 10 February 2020. and vandalism towards feats of civilisation.[Engels, Friedrich (1872)]
. Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
See also
* Christian libertarianism
* Fusionism
* Green libertarianism
* Libertarian feminism
* List of libertarian political ideologies
* Neoclassical liberalism
* Non-aggression principle
The non-aggression principle (NAP), also called the non-aggression axiom, is a concept in which aggression, defined as initiating or threatening any forceful interference (violating or breaching conduct) against either an individual, their propert ...
* Outline of libertarianism
* Paleolibertarianism
* "Property is theft!"
* "Taxation as theft, Taxation is theft!"
References
Bibliography
* Attas, Daniel (2010). "Libertarianism". In Bevir, Mark. ''Encyclopedia of Political Theory''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 810–818. .
* Carlson, Jennifer D. (2012). "Libertarianism". In Miller, Wilburn R., ed. ''The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America''. London: Sage Publications. .
* Brian Doherty (journalist), Doherty, Brian (2007). ''Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement''. PublicAffairs.
* Robert Graham (historian), Graham, Robert (2005). ''Anarchism: a Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas: from Anarchy to Anarchism''. Montréal: Black Rose Books. .
* Guérin, Daniel (1970). ''Anarchism: From Theory to Practice''. New York: Monthly Review Press. .
*
* Hospers, John (1971). ''Libertarianism''. Santa Barbara, CA: Reason Press.
* Hunt, E. K. (2003). ''Property and Prophets: the Evolution of Economic Institutions and Ideologies''. New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc. .
* Kinna, Ruth (2010). "Anarchism". In Bevir, Mark. ''Encyclopedia of Political Theory''. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. pp. 34–37. .
* Marshall, Peter (2009). '' Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism''. Oakland, CA: PM Press. .
* McLaughlin, Paul (2007). ''Anarchism and Authority: A Philosophical Introduction to Classical Anarchism''. AshGate.
* Miller, David; Coleman, Janet; Connolly, William; Ryan, Alan (1991). ''The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought''. Wiley-Blackwell. .
* Richardson, James L. (2001). ''Contending Liberalisms in World Politics: Ideology and Power''. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers. .
* Ward, Colin (2004). ''Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction''. Oxford University Press. .
* Woodcock, George (2004). ''Anarchism''. University of Toronto Press. .
External links
"Libertarianism"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
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Libertarianism,
Economic ideologies
History of economic thought
Philosophical movements
Political movements
Political science terminology