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== Ideology ==
== Ideology ==
Minarchists generally justify the state on the grounds that it is the logical consequence of adhering to the [[non-aggression principle]]. They argue that [[anarchism]] is immoral because it implies that the non-aggression principle is optional. They argue that this is because the enforcement of laws under anarchism is open to competition.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} Another common justification is that private defense and court firms would tend to represent the interests of those who pay them enough.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable|author=Holcombe, Randall G. http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_08_3_holcombe.pdf}}</ref> [[Robert Nozick]] in ''[[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]]'' argued that a night watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights.

Some minarchists justify the state on the grounds that it is the logical consequence of adhering to the [[non-aggression principle]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} Some argue that a state is inevitable.<ref name="Knight in Iowa City by Emmett">{{Cite book | publisher = Emerald Group Publishing | isbn = 9781780520087 | last = Emmett | first = Ross B. | title = Frank H. Knight in Iowa City, 1919-1928 | date = 2011-08-12 }}</ref> Some minarchists argue that [[anarchism]] is immoral because it implies that the non-aggression principle is optional, because the enforcement of laws under anarchism is open to competition.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} Another common justification is that private defense and court firms would tend to show bias, unevenly representing the interests of paying clients.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable|author=Holcombe, Randall G. http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_08_3_holcombe.pdf}}</ref> [[Robert Nozick]] in ''[[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]]'' argued that a night watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights.<ref name="Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Nozick> {{Cite book | publisher = Basic Books | isbn = 9780465097203 | last = Nozick | first = Robert | title = Anarchy, State, and Utopia | date = 1974 }}</ref> All minarchists agree that all governments should only be large enough to protect the rights of the people and nothing more.<ref name="After Statism by Levy" /><ref name="Statism, Youth, and Civic Imagination by Obadare" /><ref name="Rise and Demise of German Statism by Kvistad" /><ref name="Statism and Anarchy by Bakunin" /><ref name="Anarchism and Minarchism: A Rapprochement by Machan" /><ref name="Reply to Machan by Block" /><ref name="Anarchism Minarchism by Long" /><ref name="Limited Government by Friedrich" /> An example that illustrates the concept comes during the [[Greek government debt crisis]] where the [[Politics of Greece|Greek government]] decided to expand a list of state-recognized [[disability]] categories to include [[pedophiles]], [[exhibitionists]] and [[Kleptomania|kleptomaniacs]].<ref name="Furor in Greece over pedophilia as a disability by Paphitis">{{cite news | url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_DISABILITY_DISPUTE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT | title=Furor in Greece over pedophilia as a disability | work=Associated Press | date=Jan 9, 2012 | accessdate=January 10, 2012 | author=Paphitis, Nicholas | location=New York}}</ref> All minarchists, regardless of their level of devotion to minarchism, would be against such a policy change.<ref name="Anarchism Minarchism by Long" />
Some minarchists justify the state on the grounds that it is the logical consequence of adhering to the [[non-aggression principle]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} Some argue that a state is inevitable.<ref name="Knight in Iowa City by Emmett">{{Cite book | publisher = Emerald Group Publishing | isbn = 9781780520087 | last = Emmett | first = Ross B. | title = Frank H. Knight in Iowa City, 1919-1928 | date = 2011-08-12 }}</ref> Some minarchists argue that [[anarchism]] is immoral because it implies that the non-aggression principle is optional, because the enforcement of laws under anarchism is open to competition.{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} Another common justification is that private defense and court firms would tend to show bias, unevenly representing the interests of paying clients.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable|author=Holcombe, Randall G. http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_08_3_holcombe.pdf}}</ref> [[Robert Nozick]] in ''[[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]]'' argued that a night watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights.<ref name="Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Nozick> {{Cite book | publisher = Basic Books | isbn = 9780465097203 | last = Nozick | first = Robert | title = Anarchy, State, and Utopia | date = 1974 }}</ref> All minarchists agree that all governments should only be large enough to protect the rights of the people and nothing more.<ref name="After Statism by Levy" /><ref name="Statism, Youth, and Civic Imagination by Obadare" /><ref name="Rise and Demise of German Statism by Kvistad" /><ref name="Statism and Anarchy by Bakunin" /><ref name="Anarchism and Minarchism: A Rapprochement by Machan" /><ref name="Reply to Machan by Block" /><ref name="Anarchism Minarchism by Long" /><ref name="Limited Government by Friedrich" /> An example that illustrates the concept comes during the [[Greek government debt crisis]] where the [[Politics of Greece|Greek government]] decided to expand a list of state-recognized [[disability]] categories to include [[pedophiles]], [[exhibitionists]] and [[Kleptomania|kleptomaniacs]].<ref name="Furor in Greece over pedophilia as a disability by Paphitis">{{cite news | url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_DISABILITY_DISPUTE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT | title=Furor in Greece over pedophilia as a disability | work=Associated Press | date=Jan 9, 2012 | accessdate=January 10, 2012 | author=Paphitis, Nicholas | location=New York}}</ref> All minarchists, regardless of their level of devotion to minarchism, would be against such a policy change.<ref name="Anarchism Minarchism by Long" />


Revision as of 06:56, 25 January 2012

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Minarchism (also known as minimal statism) has been variously defined by sources. It is a libertarian capitalist political philosophy. In the strictest sense, it maintains that the state is necessary and that its only legitimate function is the protection of individuals from aggression, theft, breach of contract, and fraud, and the only legitimate governmental institutions are the military, police, and courts. In the broadest sense, it also includes fire departments, prisons, the executive, and legislatures as legitimate government functions.[1][2][3] Such states are called night watchman states. With anarchism advocating no government, and statism advocating some level of government, minarchism is a form of statism.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Minarchists argue that the state has no right to use its monopoly on the use of force to interfere with free transactions between people, and see the state's sole responsibility as ensuring that transactions between private individuals are free. Minarchists generally advocate a laissez faire approach to the economy.

Etymology

Samuel Edward Konkin III, an agorist, coined the term in 1971 to describe libertarians who defend some form of compulsory government.[citation needed] Konkin invented the term minarchism as an alternative to the cumbersome phrase limited-government libertarianism.[citation needed]

Ideology

Some minarchists justify the state on the grounds that it is the logical consequence of adhering to the non-aggression principle.[citation needed] Some argue that a state is inevitable.[19] Some minarchists argue that anarchism is immoral because it implies that the non-aggression principle is optional, because the enforcement of laws under anarchism is open to competition.[citation needed] Another common justification is that private defense and court firms would tend to show bias, unevenly representing the interests of paying clients.[20] Robert Nozick in Anarchy, State, and Utopia argued that a night watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights.[21] All minarchists agree that all governments should only be large enough to protect the rights of the people and nothing more.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][17] An example that illustrates the concept comes during the Greek government debt crisis where the Greek government decided to expand a list of state-recognized disability categories to include pedophiles, exhibitionists and kleptomaniacs.[22] All minarchists, regardless of their level of devotion to minarchism, would be against such a policy change.[10]

The issue of taxation is polarizing among minarchists.[citation needed] Some minarchists support taxation on principle or see it as a necessary evil to address the free rider problem, while others believe it is morally wrong.[citation needed] Ayn Rand is notable for her opposition to taxation, while also holding that the elimination of taxation in a society should occur gradually.[23] Another polarizing issue among minarchists is whether citizens should have to pay the government to enforce their contracts.[citation needed]

Criticisms

Anarcho-capitalists generally argue that government violates the non-aggression principle by its nature because governments use force against those who have not stolen private property, vandalized private property, assaulted anyone, or committed fraud.[24][25] Many also argue that monopolies tend to be corrupt and inefficient.[citation needed]

Murray Rothbard argued that all government services, including defense, are inefficient because they lack a market-based pricing mechanism regulated by the voluntary decisions of consumers purchasing services that fulfill their highest-priority needs and by investors seeking the most profitable enterprises to invest in.[26] Therefore, the state's monopoly on the use of force is a violation of natural rights.[26] He wrote, "The defense function is the one reserved most jealously by the State.[26] It is vital to the State's existence, for on its monopoly of force depends its ability to exact taxes from the citizens. If citizens were permitted privately owned courts and armies, then they would possess the means to defend themselves against invasive acts by the government as well as by private individuals."[26] In his book Power and Market, he argued that geographically large minarchist states are indifferent from a unified minarchist world monopoly government.[27] Rothbard wrote that governments were not inevitable, noting that it often took hundreds of years for aristocrats to set up a state out of anarchy.[28] He also argued that if a minimal state allows individuals to freely secede from the current jurisdiction to join a competing jurisdiction, then it does not by definition constitute a state.[29]

Anarchists generally argue that private defense and court firms would have to have a good reputation in order to stay in business. Furthermore, Linda & Morris Tannehill argue that no coercive monopoly of force can arise on a free market and that a government's citizenry can’t desert them in favor of a competent protection and defense agency.[30]

Proponents of an economically interventionist state argue it is best to evaluate the merits of government intervention on a case-by-case basis in order to address recessions (see Keynesian economics) or existential threats.[citation needed]

Social liberals and social democrats argue that a government ought to appropriate private wealth in order to ensure care for disadvantaged or dependent people such as children, the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, immigrants, the homeless, the poor, the unemployed, caretakers, or victimized minority groups.[citation needed]

Social conservatives argue that the state should maintain a moral outlook and legislate against behavior commonly regarded as culturally destructive or immoral; that, indeed, the state cannot survive if its citizens do not have a certain kind of character, integrity and civic virtue, and so ignoring the state's role in forming people's ethical dispositions can be disastrous.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Gregory, Anthory.The Minarchist's Dilemma. Strike The Root. 10 May 2004.
  2. ^ Peikoff, Leonard (March 7th, 2011). "What Role Should Certain Specific Governments Play in Objectivist Government?". peikoff.com. Retrieved 24 December 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Peikoff, Leonard (October 3rd, 2011). "Interview with Yaron Brook on Economic Issues in Today'S World (Part 1)". peikoff.com. Retrieved 24 December 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b Levy, Jonah D (2006). The State After Statism: New State Activities in the Age of Liberalization. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 469. ISBN 9780674022768.
  5. ^ a b Obadare, Ebenezer (2010). Statism, Youth, and Civic Imagination: A Critical Study of the National Youth Service Corps Programme in Nigeria. Dakar Senegal: Codesria. ISBN 9782869783034.
  6. ^ a b {{Cite book Kvistad, Gregg (1999). The Rise and Demise of German Statism: Loyalty and Political Membership. Providence [u.a.]: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571811615.
  7. ^ a b Bakunin, Mikhail (1990). Statism and Anarchy. Cambridge ;;New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521361828.
  8. ^ a b Machan, T (2002). "Anarchism and Minarchism: A Rapprochement". Journal Des Economistes et Des Etudes Humaines. 12: 569–569–588. ISSN 1145-6396.
  9. ^ a b Block, W (2007). "Anarchism and Minarchism No Rapprochment Possible: Reply to Tibor Machan". The Journal of Libertarian Studies. 21 (1): 61–61–90. ISSN 0363-2873.
  10. ^ a b c Long, Roderick (2008). Anarchism Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?. Aldershot Hants, England: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754660668.
  11. ^ Parker, Martin (2010). The Dictionary of Alternatives Utopianism and Organisation. London, England: Zed. ISBN 9781849727341.
  12. ^ Arendt, Hannah (1966). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt Brace & World.
  13. ^ Cernak, Linda (2011). Totalitarianism. Edina, MN: ABDO. ISBN 9781617147951.
  14. ^ Friedrich, Carl (1964). Totalitarianism. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
  15. ^ Gleason, Abbott (1995). Totalitarianism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195050172.
  16. ^ Schapiro, Leonard (1972). Totalitarianism. New York: Praeger.
  17. ^ a b Friedrich, Carl (1974). Limited Government: A Comparison. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 9780135371671.
  18. ^ Marx, Herbert (1950). The Welfare State. New York: Wilson.
  19. ^ Emmett, Ross B. (2011-08-12). Frank H. Knight in Iowa City, 1919-1928. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 9781780520087.
  20. ^ Holcombe, Randall G. http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_08_3_holcombe.pdf. "Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |author= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Nozick, Robert (1974). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465097203.
  22. ^ Paphitis, Nicholas (Jan 9, 2012). "Furor in Greece over pedophilia as a disability". Associated Press. New York. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  23. ^ Rand, Ayn (2005-11-01). Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A. Penguin. ISBN 9780451216656. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  24. ^ Long, Roderick, Market Anarchism as Constitutionalism, Molinari Institute.
  25. ^ Plauché, Geoffrey Allan (2006). On the Social Contract and the Persistence of Anarchy, American Political Science Association, (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University).
  26. ^ a b c d Rothbard, Murray N (2004-03-18). "The Myth of Efficient Government Service". Mises Daily. Auburn, AL. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
  27. ^ Murray Rothbard. Power and Market: Defense services on the Free Market. p. 1051. It is all the more curious, incidentally, that while laissez-faireists should by the logic of their position, be ardent believers in a single, unified world government, so that no one will live in a state of "anarchy" in relation to anyone else, they almost never are.
  28. ^ Murray Rothbard. Power and Market: Defense services on the Free Market. p. 1054. In the purely free-market society, a would-be criminal police or judiciary would find it very difficult to take power, since there would be no organized State apparatus to seize and use as the instrumentality of command. To create such an instrumentality de novo is very difficult, and, indeed, almost impossible; historically, it took State rulers centuries to establish a functioning State apparatus. Furthermore, the purely free-market, stateless society would contain within itself a system of built-in "checks and balances" that would make it almost impossible for such organized crime to succeed.
  29. ^ Murray Rothbard. Power and Market: Defense services on the Free Market. p. 1051. But, of course, if each person may secede from government, we have virtually arrived at the purely free society, where defense is supplied along with all other services by the free market and where the invasive State has ceased to exist.
  30. ^ Linda & Morris Tannehill. The Market for Liberty, p. 81.
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