Libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism - Politics in Minutes (2016)

Politics in Minutes (2016)

Libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism

Despite being usually anti-capitalist, anarchism contains a substrand that favours capitalism, namely anarcho-capitalism. Its adherents consider the state to be an unnecessary evil that should be abolished, but favour a free-market economic system, including the principle of private property. American economist Murray Newton Rothbard was one of the main proponents of anarcho-capitalism. He combined individualist anarchism, classical liberalism and Austrian School economics to create a political and economic philosophy that stresses the importance of freedom from the state and coercive monopolies. More recently, anarcho-capitalism has been associated with the ‘rolling-back-the-state’ policies emerging from the neoliberalism of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Anarcho-capitalism is often linked to libertarianism, a political philosophy that views liberty as its primary political virtue. Libertarianism can be viewed as right-wing, reflecting an anti-state free-market position, or left-wing, reflecting calls for liberty and freedom.

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