Anarcho-capitalismAnarcho-capitalism is an individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state and the elevation of the sovereign individual in a free market...
has been the subject of a number of works of literature, both nonfiction and fiction.
Nonfiction
The following is a partial list of notable nonfiction works discussing anarcho-capitalism. Works by Bastiat, de Molinari, and others were written before the terms "anarcho-capitalism" or "
libertarianLibertarianism is a term adopted by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which advocate the maximization of individual liberty and the minimization or even abolition of the state...
" existed. These thinkers and their writings are often considered the predecessors of modern market anarchism. Anarcho-capitalism has been heavily influenced by and intertwined with the
Austrian SchoolThe Austrian School is a school of economic thought that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism or price system...
of economics, reflected in works by Rothbard and others.
- Barnett, Randy E.
Randy E. Barnett is a lawyer, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches constitutional law and contracts, and a legal theorist in the United States...
: The Structure of LibertyThe Structure of Liberty is a book by legal theorist Randy Barnett which offers a libertarian theory of law and politics. Barnett calls his theory the liberal conception of justice, emphasizing the relationship between legal libertarianism and classical liberalism.Barnett argues that private...
- Bastiat, Frederic
Claude Frédéric Bastiat was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly.-Biography:...
- The Law
The Law, original French title La Loi, is a 1850 book by Frédéric Bastiat. It was written at Mugron two years after the third French Revolution of 1848 and a few months before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. The essay was influenced by John Locke's Second Treatise on Government and in turn...
- The State
- Benson, Bruce
Dr. Bruce L. Benson is an American academic economist who is widely recognized as an authority on law and economics and a major exponent on legal theory of anarcho-capitalism. He is DeVoe L. Moore Professor and Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University, where he serves as...
- The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State
- To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice
- Davidson, James Dale
James Dale Davidson is an American investment newsletter writer and author of The Sovereign Individual, The Great Reckoning, and Blood in the Streets, all three co-authored with William Rees-Mogg. He also wrote The Plague of the Black Debt - How to Survive the Coming Depression. He is also the...
and Rees-Mogg, WilliamWilliam Rees-Mogg, Baron Rees-Mogg is an English journalist.-Life and career:He was educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford. He was President of the Oxford Union in 1951....
: The Sovereign Individual
- Friedman, David D.
David Director Friedman is an American writer who became a leading figure in the anarcho-capitalist community with the publication of his book The Machinery of Freedom...
: The Machinery of FreedomThe Machinery of Freedom is a 1973 nonfiction book by libertarian economist David D. Friedman outlining the means by which a stateless society could operate. It is one of the most influential books in anarcho-capitalist literature...
- Gordon, David
David Gordon is an American author and trainer and early contributor to the development of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.Gordon has helped create and shape the field of NLP since some decades yet. Gordon's main areas of contribution have been the use of therapeutic metaphors, inspired by his work...
: Secession, State & Liberty
- Herbert, Auberon
Auberon Edward William Molyneux Herbert was a writer, theorist, philosopher, and member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, son of the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon, brother of Henry Herbert, the 4th Earl, and father of the 9th Baron Lucas...
: The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State
- Hess, Karl
Karl Hess was an American national-level speechwriter and author. He also characterized himself as a political philosopher, editor, welder, motorcycle racer, tax resister, atheist, and libertarian activist...
: The Death of Politics, Essay in Playboy, March 1969.
- Hoppe, Hans-Hermann
Hans-Hermann Hoppe is an Austrian school economist of the anarcho-capitalist tradition, and a former economics professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.-Academic career:...
- Democracy: The God That Failed
Democracy: The God That Failed is a book by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, containing a series of thirteen essays on the subject of democracy and concluding with the belief that democracy is the primary cause of the decivilization sweeping the world since World War I, and that it must be delegitimized.He...
- The Economics and Ethics of Private Property
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy by Hans-Hermann Hoppe was first published in 1993 followed by a second edition in 2006.- Brief summary :From the back cover of the second edition:...
- The Myth of National Defense
The Myth of National Defense is a book edited by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, published in 2003 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and contributed to by many prominent anarcho-capitalists, about the merits of replacing government defense agencies with private defense agencies...
- A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism is a treatise by Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an anarcho-capitalist economist and a student of Jürgen Habermas, which uses the ethics of argumentation, a Habermasian principle, as the foundation for self-ownership and private property as ethical principles.Published in...
- Jasay, Anthony de
Anthony de Jasay is a Hungarian-born libertarian philosopher and economist known for his anti-statist writings. He was born at Aba, Hungary in 1925. . He was educated at Szekesfehervar and Budapest, taking a degree in Agriculture...
: The State
- Konkin, Samuel Edward III
Samuel Edward Konkin III was the author of the New Libertarian Manifesto and a proponent of the political philosophy which he called agorism. Agorism is a leftward evolution of anarcho-capitalism, and subset of market anarchism...
: New Libertarian ManifestoThe New Libertarian Manifesto is a work of agorist philosophy written by Samuel Edward Konkin III. In it, Konkin proffers various arguments of how a free society would function as well as examples of existing black markets. It contains criticisms of utilizing political or violent means, and...
- Molinari, Gustave de
Gustave de Molinari was an economist born in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands associated with French laissez-faire liberal economists such as Frédéric Bastiat and Hippolyte Castille. Living in Paris, in the 1840s, he took part in the "Ligue pour la Liberté des Échanges" , animated by Frédéric...
: The Production of Security
- Murphy, Robert P.
Robert P. "Bob" Murphy is an Austrian School economist and free market-oriented author.-Education and personal life:Murphy completed his Bachelor of Arts in economics at Hillsdale College in 1998. He then moved back to his home state of New York to continue his studies at New York University....
: Chaos Theory: Two Essays on Market Anarchy
- Nock, Albert Jay
Albert Jay Nock was an influential American libertarian author, educational theorist, and social critic of the early and middle 20th century.- Life and work :...
: Our Enemy, the State
- Oppenheimer, Franz
Franz Oppenheimer was a German-Jewish sociologist and political economist, who published also in the area of the fundamental sociology of the state.-Personal life:...
: The State: Its History and Development Viewed Sociologically
- Rothbard, Murray N.
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American intellectual, individualist anarchist, author, and economist of the Austrian School who helped define modern libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism"...
- Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays
Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays represents some of libertarian anarchist Murray Rothbard's most advanced and radical theorizing on topics impacting on human liberty.-Summary:...
- The Ethics of Liberty
The Ethics of Liberty, by American economist and historian Murray N. Rothbard, first published in 1982, is an exposition of the libertarian political position...
- For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
- Power and Market: Government and the Economy
- Man, Economy, and State
Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles, first published in 1962, is a book on economics by Murray Rothbard, and is one of the most important books in the Austrian School of economics...
- Spencer, Herbert
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, prominent classical liberal political theorist, and sociological theorist of the Victorian era....
: Social StaticsSocial Statics, or The Conditions essential to Happiness specified, and the First of them Developed is an 1851 book by the British economist Herbert Spencer...
- Spooner, Lysander
Lysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, entrepreneur, political philosopher, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, and legal theorist of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S. Post Office with his American Letter Mail Company, which was...
- Natural Law; or The Science of Justice
- No Treason
No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority is an 1867 essay by American individualist anarchist, political philosopher and legal theorist Lysander Spooner...
- Let's Abolish Government
- Edward Stringham: Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice
- Tannehill, Linda and Morris: The Market For Liberty
The Market for Liberty is an anarcho-capitalist book written by Linda and Morris Tannehill, which according to Karl Hess has become "something of a classic." It was preceded by the self-published Liberty via the Market in 1969. Mary Ruwart credits the Tannehills and their book with winning her over...
Fiction
Anarcho-capitalism has been examined in certain works of literature, particularly
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
.
Vernor VingeVernor Steffen Vinge is a retired San Diego State University Professor of Mathematics, computer scientist, and science fiction author...
's short story "
The UngovernedThe Ungoverned is a 1985 science fiction novella by Vernor Vinge, set between his novels The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime. It was first published in his collection True Names and Other Dangers and later published in the omnibus Across Realtime.- Plot summary :The framework is the story of the...
" depicts anarcho-capitalists defending against an invading government. Example contract corporations in this story include Big Al's Protection Racket (a police service) and Justice, Inc. Anarcho-capitalism is also discussed in Vinge's novels
The Peace WarThe Peace War is a science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge about authoritarianism and technological progress. It was first published as a serial in Analog in 1984, and then appeared in book form shortly afterward. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985...
and
Marooned in RealtimeMarooned in Realtime is a 1986 murder mystery and time-travel science fiction novel by Vernor Vinge, about a small, time-displaced group of people who may be the only "survivors" of technological singularity or alien invasion. It is the sequel to The Peace War and "The Ungoverned"...
, which both occur in the same literary milieu as "The Ungoverned". The short story "Conquest by Default" depicts an anarcho-capitalist alien race which prevents monopolistic groups via
antitrustUnited States antitrust law is the body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are designed to encourage competition in the marketplace....
religious customs.
Anarcho-capitalism also plays a major role in
Neal StephensonNeal Town Stephenson is an American writer, known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. He has also written under the pseudonym of Stephen Bury.Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics,...
's novels
Snow CrashSnow Crash is Neal Stephenson's third novel, published in 1992. Like many of Stephenson's other novels it references history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, and philosophy....
and
The Diamond AgeThe Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is a postcyberpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. It is a bildungsroman focused on a young girl named Nell, and set in a world in which nanotechnology affects all aspects of life. Some main motifs include: education, social class, ethnicity, and the...
. In
Snow Crash, territory is primarily controlled by corporate franchises, termed "Franchise Operated Quasi-National Entities" such as "Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong" and "Nova Sicilia," with privately-operated police forces and justice systems, where the landscape has been turned into a patchwork quilt of franchise enclave communities, the roads are private entities one subscribes to, and the Federal Government is just one more competitor (albeit an inefficient one losing market share by the day) in a free market for sovereignty services. Its sequel,
The Diamond Age, depicts a more mature anarcho-capitalist society where
Common LawCommon law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive action, and to corresponding legal systems that rely on precedential case law....
and other international private law conventions have evolved into a Common Economic Protocol to which all non-outlaw phyles and FOQNEs subscribe in their own legal systems.
The 1966 novel
The Moon Is a Harsh MistressThe Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth...
, by
Robert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of the genre. He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's...
, is a fictional exploration of anarcho-capitalism which he calls "rational anarchism." Heinlein's imaginary
lunarThe Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is , about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The common centre of mass of the system is located at about —a quarter the Earth's...
society has a very limited central government. He speculates on how a society would operate if it had no formal laws or legal system, a private currency, and no social security or other forms of welfare provided by the government. His imaginary society works quite well, although newcomers have a relatively high death rate. However, through one of his characters, Heinlein seems to posit near the end of his book that a true anarcho-capitalist society is inherently unattainable, and will eventually devolve into a traditional statist society.
The
Hostile Takeover TrilogyHostile Takeover is a science fiction trilogy written by S. Andrew Swann and published by DAW Books where the main setting is the Anarcho-capitalist planet of Bakunin...
by
S. Andrew SwannS. Andrew Swann is a science fiction and fantasy author living in Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, where much of his fiction is set. He was born Steven Swiniarski and has published some of his books as Swiniarski and some as Swann...
depicts a world called Bakunin that operates on anarcho-capitalist principles, and examines the particular problem of an anarcho-capitalist society defending itself against a statist aggressor when that aggressor hires so many of the Anarcho-capitalist society's own denizens as mercenary forces.
L. Neil SmithL. Neil Smith , also known to readers and fans as El Neil, is a Libertarian science fiction author and political activist. He was born on May 12 1946 in Denver...
's series of novels starting with
The Probability BroachThe Probability Broach is the first novel by science fiction writer L. Neil Smith. It is set in an alternate history, the so-called Gallatin Universe, where a libertarian society has formed on the North American continent, styled the North American Confederacy.-Plot summary:Edward William "Win"...
take place in an alternate history where the United States becomes the "North American Confederacy", which is basically anarcho-capitalist in nature, although there is the vestigial remnant of a government whose Continental Congress might meet every few decades.
J. Neil SchulmanJoseph Neil Schulman is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, radio personality, filmmaker, composer, and actor...
's novel,
Alongside NightAlongside Night is a Prometheus Award winning libertarian and anarchist dystopian novel by science fiction writer J. Neil Schulman first published in 1979 by Crown Publishers. Subsequent paperback editions have been released by Ace Books in 1982, Avon Books in 1987, Pulpless.com in 1999, and...
, features a group called the "
agoristsAgorism is a political philosophy founded by Samuel Edward Konkin III and developed with contributions by J. Neil Schulman that holds as its ultimate goal bringing about a society in which all "relations between people are voluntary exchanges a free market." The term comes from the Greek word...
" (from a Greek word for "marketplace") who form a literal "underground economy" (in a cavern beneath Manhattan) to practice anarcho-capitalism until their revolution takes over outside society.
Although
Ayn RandAyn Rand , was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her best-selling novels and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
often criticized anarcho-capitalists in favor of a minarchist society (meaning government is limited to police, military and a court system), the heroes in her popular 1957 novel
Atlas Shrugged Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand, first published in 1957 in the United States. This was Rand's fourth, longest and last novel, and she considered it her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing...
create an isolated community with no government, that operates strictly according to the non-aggression principle.
Ken MacLeodKen MacLeod , an award-winning Scottish science fiction writer, lives in South Queensferry near Edinburgh. He graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in zoology and has worked as a computer programmer and written a masters thesis on biomechanics.His novels often explore socialist, communist...
's four-part series
Fall Revolution deals extensively with several different visions of anarchist societies.
The Stone Canal deals with the interactions of an individualist anarchist, Johnathon Wilde, who is reborn as a clone into a high-tech anarcho-capitalist society influenced largely by an adversary from his past.
Cecelia Holland-Biography:She was born December 31, 1943 in Henderson, Nevada, and began writing at the age of twelve, recording the stories she made up for her own entertainment. From the beginning, her focus was on history because "being twelve, I had precious few stories of my own...
's only sci-fi novel
Floating Worlds depicts an anarchist future earth in the early scenes. In particular it shows how such a system might deal with such issues as unemployment, theft, and poverty.
Max Barry's novel "Jennifer Government" depicts an anarcho-capitalist society, with the Government, now an almost formal corporation itself, on the outs.
See also
- Libertarian science fiction
Libertarian science fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that focuses on the politics and social order implied by libertarian philosophies with an emphasis on individualism and a limited state-- and in some cases, no state whatsoever....
- Prometheus Award
The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society, which also publishes a quarterly journal Prometheus. L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newly founded Libertarian Futurist...
- Anarcho-capitalist symbolism
Anarcho-capitalists or libertarian anarchists have embraced symbols which represent the convergence of anarchist and libertarian traditions. These ones are the most populars.-Gold-black bisected flag:...
Further reading
- Hoppe, Hans-Hermann
Hans-Hermann Hoppe is an Austrian school economist of the anarcho-capitalist tradition, and a former economics professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.-Academic career:...
, "Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography", Lewrockwell.comLewRockwell.com is a widely read 501 libertarian web magazine operated by Burton Blumert , Lew Rockwell , Eric Garris , and others associated with the Center for Libertarian Studies ; its motto is "anti-state, anti-war, pro-market"...
, December 31, 2001.