Libertarianism

For other uses, see Libertarianism (disambiguation). "Libertarians" redirects here. For political parties, see List of libertarian political parties.
Not to be confused with Liberalism.

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Libertarianism (from French: libertaire, itself from the Latin: libertas, lit. 'freedom') is a political philosophy that places a strong emphasis on the value of liberty.[1][2][3][4] Libertarians advocate for the expansion of individual autonomy and political freedom, emphasizing the principles of equality before the law and the protection of civil rights, including the rights to freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of choice.[4][5] Libertarians often oppose authority, state power, warfare, militarism and nationalism, but some libertarians diverge on the scope of their opposition to existing economic and political systems. Various schools of libertarian thought offer a range of views regarding the legitimate functions of state and private power. Different categorizations have been used to distinguish various forms of libertarianism.[6][7] Scholars have identified distinct libertarian perspectives on the nature of property and capital, typically delineating them along left–right or socialist–capitalist axes.[8] The various schools of libertarian thought have also been shaped by liberal ideas. [9]

In the mid-19th century,[10] libertarianism originated as a form of left-wing politics such as anti-authoritarian and anti-state socialists like anarchists,[11] especially social anarchists,[12] but more generally libertarian communists/Marxists and libertarian socialists.[13][14] These libertarians sought to abolish capitalism and private ownership of the means of production, or else to restrict their purview or effects to usufruct property norms, in favor of common or cooperative ownership and management, viewing private property in the means of production as a barrier to freedom and liberty.[19] While all libertarians support some level of individual rights, left-libertarians differ by supporting an egalitarian redistribution of natural resources.[20] Left-libertarian[26] ideologies include anarchist schools of thought, alongside many other anti-paternalist and New Left schools of thought centered around economic egalitarianism as well as geolibertarianism, green politics, market-oriented left-libertarianism and the Steiner–Vallentyne school.[30] After the fall of the Soviet Union, libertarian socialism grew in popularity and influence as part of anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti- and alter-globalisation movements.[31][32]

In the mid-20th century, American right-libertarian[35] proponents of anarcho-capitalism and minarchism co-opted[13] the term libertarian to advocate laissez-faire capitalism and strong private property rights such as in land, infrastructure and natural resources.[36] The latter is the dominant form of libertarianism in the United States.[34] This libertarianism, a revival of classical liberalism in the United States,[37] occurred due to other American liberals abandoning classical liberalism and embracing progressivism and economic interventionism in the early 20th century after the Great Depression and with the New Deal.[38] Since the 1970s, this classical liberal form of libertarianism has spread beyond the United States,[39] with right-libertarian parties being established in the United Kingdom,[40] Israel,[41][42][43][44] South Africa[45] Argentina, and many other countries.[46] Minarchists advocate for night-watchman states which maintain only those functions of government necessary to safeguard natural rights, understood in terms of self-ownership or autonomy,[47] while anarcho-capitalists advocate for the replacement of all state institutions with private institutions.[48] Some right-wing variants of libertarianism, such as anarcho-capitalism, have been labeled as far-right or radical right by some scholars.[49][50][51][52] In 2022, former student activist and self-described libertarian socialist Gabriel Boric became head of state of Chile after winning the 2021 Chilean presidential election with the Apruebo Dignidad coalition.[53][54][55] In 2023, Argentine economist Javier Milei became the first openly right-wing libertarian head of state,[56] after winning that year's general election with the La Libertad Avanza coalition.[57]

  1. ^ Wolff, Jonathan (2016). "Libertarianism". Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. London. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-S036-1. ISBN 9780415250696.
  2. ^ Vossen, Bas Van Der (2017). "Libertarianism". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.86. ISBN 978-0-19-022863-7.
  3. ^ Mack, Eric (2011). Klosko, George (ed.). "Libertarianism". The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy: 673–688. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238804.003.0041.
  4. ^ a b Boaz, David (30 January 2009). "Libertarianism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2017. [L]ibertarianism, political philosophy that takes individual liberty to be the primary political value.
  5. ^ Woodcock, George (2004) [1962]. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Peterborough: Broadview Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-1551116297. [F]or the very nature of the libertarian attitude—its rejection of dogma, its deliberate avoidance of rigidly systematic theory, and, above all, its stress on extreme freedom of choice and on the primacy of the individual judgement [sic].
  6. ^ Long, Joseph. W (1996). "Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class". Social Philosophy and Policy. 15 (2): 310. "When I speak of 'libertarianism' [...] I mean all three of these very different movements. It might be protested that LibCap [libertarian capitalism], LibSoc [libertarian socialism] and LibPop [libertarian populism] are too different from one another to be treated as aspects of a single point of view. But they do share a common—or at least an overlapping—intellectual ancestry."
  7. ^ Carlson, Jennifer D. (2012). "Libertarianism". In Miller, Wilburn R., ed. The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America. London: SAGE Publications. p. 1006 Archived 30 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. ISBN 1412988764. "There exist three major camps in libertarian thought: right-libertarianism, socialist libertarianism, and left-libertarianism; the extent to which these represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme is contested by scholars."
  8. ^ Francis, Mark (December 1983). "Human Rights and Libertarians". Australian Journal of Politics & History. 29 (3): 462–472. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8497.1983.tb00212.x. ISSN 0004-9522.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dejacque was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Long, Roderick T. (2012). "The Rise of Social Anarchism". In Gaus, Gerald F.; D'Agostino, Fred, eds. The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy. p. 223 Archived 30 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. "In the meantime, anarchist theories of a more communist or collectivist character had been developing as well. One important pioneer is French anarcho-communist Joseph Déjacque (1821–1864), who [...] appears to have been the first thinker to adopt the term 'libertarian' for this position; hence 'libertarianism' initially denoted a communist rather than a free-market ideology."
  12. ^ Long, Roderick T. (2012). "Anarchism". In Gaus, Gerald F.; D'Agostino, Fred, eds. The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy. p. 227 Archived 30 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine. "In its oldest sense, it is a synonym either for anarchism in general or social anarchism in particular."
  13. ^ a b Rothbard, Murray (2009) [2007]. The Betrayal of the American Right (PDF). Mises Institute. p. 83. ISBN 978-1610165013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019. One gratifying aspect of our rise to some prominence is that, for the first time in my memory, we, 'our side,' had captured a crucial word from the enemy. 'Libertarians' had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchists, either of the communist or syndicalist variety. But now we had taken it over.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Marshall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Kropotkin, Peter (1927). Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings. Courier Dover Publications. p. 150. ISBN 978-0486119861. It attacks not only capital, but also the main sources of the power of capitalism: law, authority, and the State.
  16. ^ Otero, Carlos Peregrin (2003). "Introduction to Chomsky's Social Theory". In Otero, Carlos Peregrin (ed.). Radical Priorities. Chomsky, Noam Chomsky (3rd ed.). Oakland, California: AK Press. p. 26. ISBN 1902593693.
  17. ^ Chomsky, Noam (2003). Carlos Peregrin Otero (ed.). Radical Priorities (3rd ed.). Oakland, California: AK Press. pp. 227–228. ISBN 1902593693.
  18. ^ Carlson, Jennifer D. (2012). "Libertarianism". In Miller, Wilbur R. The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 1006 Archived 21 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine. "[S]ocialist libertarians view any concentration of power into the hands of a few (whether politically or economically) as antithetical to freedom and thus advocate for the simultaneous abolition of both government and capitalism".
  19. ^ [15][16][17][18]
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kymlicka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Goodway was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Marshall p. 641 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Spitz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Newman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ [21][22][23][24][25]
  27. ^ "Anarchism". In Gaus, Gerald F.; D'Agostino, Fred, eds. (2012). The Routledge Companion to Social and Political Philosophy. p. 227. "The term 'left-libertarianism' has at least three meanings. In its oldest sense, it is a synonym either for anarchism in general or social anarchism in particular. Later it became a term for the left or Konkinite wing of the free-market libertarian movement, and has since come to cover a range of pro-market but anti-capitalist positions, mostly individualist anarchist, including agorism and mutualism, often with an implication of sympathies (such as for radical feminism or the labor movement) not usually shared by anarcho-capitalists. In a third sense it has recently come to be applied to a position combining individual self-ownership with an egalitarian approach to natural resources; most proponents of this position are not anarchists."
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference Vallentyne was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Carson, Kevin (15 June 2014). "What is Left-Libertarianism?" Archived 3 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Center for a Stateless Society. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  30. ^ [21][24][27][28][29]
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference rupert was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ Hahnel 2005, pp. 138–139.
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference Marshall p. 565 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Carlson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ [22][25][33][34]
  36. ^ Hussain, Syed B. (2004). Encyclopedia of Capitalism, Volume 2. New York: Facts on File Inc. p. 492. ISBN 0816052247. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2015. In the modern world, political ideologies are largely defined by their attitude towards capitalism. Marxists want to overthrow it, liberals to curtail it extensively, conservatives to curtail it moderately. Those who maintain that capitalism is an excellent economic system, unfairly maligned, with little or no need for corrective government policy, are generally known as libertarians.
  37. ^ Duncan, Craig; Machan, Tibor R. (2 June 2024). Libertarianism: For and Against. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7425-4259-4.
  38. ^ Russell, Dean (1955). "Who is a libertarian?". Foundation for Economic Education. Many of us call ourselves 'liberals.' And it is true that the word 'liberal' once described persons who respected the individual and feared the use of mass compulsions. But the leftists have now corrupted that once-proud term to identify themselves and their program of more government ownership of property and more controls over persons. As a result, those of us who believe in freedom must explain that when we call ourselves liberals, we mean liberals in the uncorrupted classical sense. At best, this is awkward and subject to misunderstanding. Here is a suggestion: Let those of us who love liberty trade-mark and reserve for our own use the good and honorable word 'libertarian'.
  39. ^ Teles, Steven; Kenney, Daniel A. "Spreading the Word: The Diffusion of American Conservatism in Europe and Beyond". In Kopsten, Jeffrey; Steinmo, Sven, eds. (2007). Growing Apart?: America and Europe in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 136–169.
  40. ^ Singleton, Alex (30 May 2008). "How Libertarians undermine liberty". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  41. ^ Staff writer (24 March 2019). "Feiglin: Palestinians in Gaza had more rights under Israel". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  42. ^ Harkov, Lahav (17 March 2019). "The Feiglin phenomenon". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 March 2019. The leader of the rising Zehut Party is attracting more than just young potheads to his libertarian platform.
  43. ^ "Zehut". Israel Democracy Institute. Retrieved 21 February 2019. [...] and personal liberty. Its platform includes libertarian economic positions [...].
  44. ^ Eglash, Ruth (4 April 2019). "A pro-pot party could tip the scales in Israel's upcoming election". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 April 2019. Now you have two special-interest groups. What pulls them together is the strong libertarian, anti-state agenda that works well for both.
  45. ^ Staden, Martin (2 December 2015). "Remembering the Founder of SA Libertarianism, Dr. Marc Swanepoel". Rational Standard. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  46. ^ "Javier Milei, a libertarian, may be elected to Argentina's congress". The Economist. 7 October 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  47. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  48. ^ Geloso, Vincent; Leeson, Peter T. (2020). "Are Anarcho-Capitalists Insane? Medieval Icelandic Conflict Institutions in Comparative Perspective". Revue d'économie politique. 130 (6): 957–974. doi:10.3917/redp.306.0115. ISSN 0373-2630. S2CID 235008718. Anarcho-capitalism is a variety of libertarianism according to which all government institutions can and should be replaced by private ones.
  49. ^ Goodwin, Barbara (2016). Using Political Ideas. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. p. 151. ISBN 978-1118708385. Howewer, enough has been said to show that most anarchists have nothing in common with those libertarians of the far-right, the anarcho-capitalists [...]
  50. ^ Paul, Ellen F.; Miller, Fred D.; Paul, Jeffrey, eds. (2007). Liberalism: Old and New. Vol. 24. Cambridge University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0521703055.
  51. ^ Estlund, David, ed. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Political Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0195376692.
  52. ^ Hammer, Espen (2013). "Libertarianism, Political". In Kaldis, Byron (ed.). Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences. Vol. 1. SAGE Publications. pp. 558–560. ISBN 978-1506332611.
  53. ^ "A new group of left-wing presidents takes over in Latin America". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  54. ^ "Can a rise of leftist leaders bring real change to Latin America?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  55. ^ Boyes, Roger (22 November 2023). "Biden risks losing Latin America to Beijing". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
  56. ^ Unsworth, David (19 November 2023). "Javier Milei crushes Argentine left, becomes world's first libertarian head of state". Fox News. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  57. ^ "Argentine libertarian Milei pledges new political era after election win". Reuters. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.