Are libertarians really just anarchists?

Political debates are often filled with ad hominem attacks, bold assertions with dubious intellectual merits, and commentary designed to evoke outrage.
Radical ideologies such as libertarianism are usually attacked for being anarchist like policies. While certain segments of the libertarian movement are receptive towards anarchism, not all libertarians are anarchists.

In fact the majority of libertarians would not consider themselves to be anarchists and try to distance themselves from the philosophy.
The differences between will be explained in the following sections to give readers an idea about how the libertarianism vs anarchism debate plays out in contemporary political discussions.

Libertarianism vs Anarchism

The difference between libertarian and anarchist thought is most apparent in the role of the state in society. While libertarians are skeptical of state involvement in private affairs, anarchists tend to have a wholesale antipathy towards the state.

There are many sects within the libertarian ideological umbrella. Even certain segments of it are known for championing anarchist beliefs. However, it is a bit of a stretch to consider these two philosophies to be political synonyms.

To understand the anarchism vs libertarianism debate, one must look at the key points where anarchists and libertarians have disagreements on.

National Defense

Anarchist: Anarchists are anti-war and view the activity as inherently destructive. They go even further than most limited government proponents. Due to their hostility towards the state, anarchists are of the opinion that defense functions could be assumed by non-state actors.

Anarcho-capitalists are comfortable with the idea of private enterprise embracing the role of national defense. For them, they see national defense as just any other service the market can provide.

Although left-anarchists oppose many of the wars Western countries have embarked on, they do not share the same pro-market bias towards national defense. In contrast to the advocates of anarcho-capitalism, left-wing anarchists generally favored local forms of self-defense units that are not constructed on the basis of a profit motive.

From the anarchist communism sub-sect to those who believe in capitalist anarchism, there is a broad consensus that current defense arrangements are flawed and immoral at best. Anarchists of all stripes can be counted on to oppose the current warfare state.

Libertarian: Libertarians are skeptical of an activist foreign policy. They only believe that military action should be used in response to direct attacks on American soil. However, they still believe a standing military is needed for basic defense purposes.

Like anything designed to protect life and property, the government is the only institution that is capable of upholding this function. There is also a general skepticism of private entities assuming defense functions due to the fact that corporate interests may clash with the concept of state integrity.

Nature abhors a vacuum. When the state’s functions are gutted, private entities will make attempts to fill in the vacuum. Many minarchists fear that having competing defense could lead to warlord scenarios. In other words, competing defense entities could result in a massive internal destabilization.

Minarchists believe that the state should still maintain a monopoly on national defense functions. Obviously, defense bodies would still be held accountable through republican mechanisms and their powers will ultimately be checked by reform-minded politicians, journalists, voters, and issue advocacy groups.

Policing

Anarchist: Nearly all anarchists have issues with the current system of policing. Leftist anarchists view the current law enforcement apparatus as oppressive and a tool of the business class to oppress working class individuals of all backgrounds.

Community watches and other voluntary institutions at the local level are seen as viable alternatives to traditional policing models. Leftist anarchists are hesitant to embrace private companies running policing services as an alternative to state-run policing.

The right-wing anarchistic factions such as anarcho-capitalists do indeed have problems with law enforcement. Instead of framing the function of police as a conflict between economic classes, anarcho-capitalists view monopolized law enforcement as a vehicle to undermine property rights and as an immoral entity due to its taxpayer-funded nature.

The lack of a profit-and-loss system does not allow for police agencies to be held accountable for sub-par performances. Anarcho-capitalists would rather take a laissez-faire approach to the matter, whereby the free market would find a solution to traditional policing services.

Leftist anarchists would take exception with some of anarcho-capitalisms private alternatives to policing. There is a strong propensity among leftist anarchists to be anti-corporate. Nevertheless, the anti-authoritarian nature of the competing schools of anarchist thought leads to a general anti-state law enforcement consensus.

For the distinctive anarchist schools, the disagreements on law enforcement only arise with regards to how non-state policing organizations would look like. But the current managerial state, which is known for its heavy-handed police actions, is universally hated by anarchists.

Libertarian: The political philosophy of mainline libertarianism sustains that law enforcement is a legitimate function of government. This comports with the “nightwatchman state” that many limited government theorists such as Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, and Robert Nozick pushed for.

In other words, the state’s role is minimal. The state only serves to protect people by providing them with the previously mentioned national defense, the police, and the courts. These institutions are designed to protect lawful citizens from violent behavior, theft, contract violations, and fraud.

Left-anarchism would be viewed as incompatible due to its lack of emphasis on solid property rights. Some libertarians may view anarchist systems as chaotic and potentially breeding grounds for total social mayhem. To solve this dilemma, a strong state, albeit with limited roles, is needed to provide a basic baseline of stability.

Wage Labor

Anarchists: Left Anarchists generally opposed private forms of hierarchies, such as managerial relations in the corporate sector. For them, wage work is a form of oppression given how it discourages workers from managing their own affairs and keeps workers in sub-optimal employment situations.

The capitalist system is flawed according to leftist proponents of anarchy. In light of this, they believe that workers must retake control and compel employers to establish better work standards. As long as corporations are able to exploit the accumulation of capital, workers will be in a precarious economic state.

Libertarians: For libertarians, activity such as wage-labor is ethical, because employer-employee relations are ultimately voluntary decisions taken by free individuals. Workers and employees ultimately determine wage standards on a voluntary basis. If the worker doesn’t like the arrangement, he can leave and find other work.

Having the state intervene to set wage levels could cause economic dislocations and negatively impact workers, especially low-skilled workers who get priced out due to minimum wage standards. To solve the issue of lagging wages, libertarians argue that excessive taxation and regulation should be scrapped.

Nature of the State

Anarchist: Anarchists view the state in a negative light. Left-wing anarchists believe that the state serves to prop up politically-connected capitalist classes and perpetuate a number of injustices.

There is a libertarian socialist streak within this variant of anarchism that still believes in individual rights but views big business with a skeptical eye.

A number of left-wing proponents of anarchy made distinctions between governments and modern-day states. They believe that the differences between these institutions were quite significant and merited significant analysis.

Anarchist thinkers such as Peter Kropotkin made the case that governments are composed of institutions which would settle disputes, make rules, and create self-defense organizations. On the other hand, a state is a heavy-handed bureaucratic mechanism with monopoly control over the military and law enforcement.

Anarchists believe that the modern-day state excludes people from controlling military and policy institutions. Instead, they see these functions as instruments of the privileged political and corporate classes that are used to clamp down on regular working people.

Anarcho-capitalists take a slightly different approach to their anti-capitalist counterparts. They agree with their left-wing compatriots that the state is a coercive institution. In fact, some even see the state as an inherently evil institution. Its taxpayer-financed nature makes it a coercive apparatus in the view of anarcho-capitalists.

The anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard made the case for market alternatives to state functions. He created the political theory of anarcho-capitalism in response to state institutions which he believed were not only inefficient but conceived in an immoral manner.

Libertarian: The difference between libertarian and anarchist thought with regards to the state is quite significant. Indeed, libertarians are not blind cheerleaders of the state. In fact, libertarian theory tends to be reluctant to give such an institution vast amounts of power.

That said, libertarians concede that the state is a necessary evil and is the only entity capable of overseeing basic roles such as the adjudication of civil and criminal disputes, law enforcement, and national defense.

Any movement that strips the state of these functions could potentially lead to mass destabilization and an overall breakdown of the social order. A weak state would be incapable of defending individual freedoms and allow unruly mobs to transgress on people’s civil liberties.

Continue reading Libertarianism vs. Anarchism: The Debate You Won't Find on TV on Thought Grenades, the blog on Libertas Bella