Authors: Lipset
Summary: In about 800 words, this entry defines anarchism, explains its political significance and discusses the relationship between anarchists and representative democracy.
The entry defines anarchism as a "political ideology whose central tenet is that the state must be abolished and society organized by voluntary means without resort to force or coercive authority." Anarchists believe that those who represent the state form a selfish ruling class with no regard for the rest of society, particularly the working class. Anarchism also finds laws and other means of state coercion to be wholly ineffective for promoting general societal interests.
Anarchist theories look to voluntary associations for things the state usually manages, such as maintaining social order, organizing production and exchange, and environmental protection, to name just a few. Within the anarchist paradigm, however, there are different views about exactly how such a society should look. The entry discusses individualist, collectivist and communist variants of anarchism. Today anarchists are influential primarily through their work in the peace and ecology movements.
Anarchism strongly criticizes western democracy for three reasons. First is the problem that even a democratic state is still a state. Second, anarchists believe it is impossible to discern the majority will, and therefore it is also impossible to achieve representative democracy--all social needs can never be adequately represented. Finally, popular representation in legislatures is also a myth because citizens most in need of such representation are least likely to choose a candidate with a background similar to their own. In the ideal anarchist society, only direct democracy would have a role in government, and even it would be subordinate to free agreements between individuals and noncompulsion.