Anarchy and the theories of.
Created | Updated Oct 31, 2003
What is Anarchy?
Anarchy is the theory of having no forms of existing govermnet. In other words, no laws, governments, police forces or rulers. This may result in one or more of two things:
- An excessive crime rate (by todays standards).
- A new government rising up to power.
The effects of Anarchy in more detail
The result of Anarchy would be either:
- An excessive crime rate (by todays standards).
- A new government rising up to power.
1.A high crime rate in a time with no laws would mean either survival of the fittest individual OR survival of the fittest group. To keep Anarchy within a group, each member must have completly free will and no one to make the orders. This would also mean that people who rely on social security, such as pensions or health service would not be able to survive because without government, there would be nobody to fund these.
2.A new government may rise up to control the Anarchy. This would very probably be worse than the government that was previously overthrown. However it is also very possible that this new government would not be able to control the anarchists and so a new culture would be formed.
Connections with Anarchy.
Anarchy has mainly been stereotyped with the gothic subculture from the late 1970's. However, not all Anarchists are goth and not all goths are anarchists. Anarchy has been used in numerous films, games and books.
The symbol for anarchy is an A with a circle around it.
How does Anarchy compare with other forms of ideology
Anarchy, like communism, is hostile towards forms of private property, but possibly more violent. Anarchy is more anti-religion, god and worship, believing that the only themselves are impregnable. Probably the biggest, most obvious and most metioned difference is the lack of rulership in an Anarchist nation. Probably the most anti-anarchy form of ideology is Tyranny, which consists of one ruler with absolute command and the power to do whatever he/she wants, forcing others to do what he/she wants.
Anarchists and the rise and fall of anarchy
Anarchy, mainly associated with the post- punk movements from the 1980's has had many more anarchists before this time. Some are: Leo Tolstoy(1828-1910), Peter Kropotkin(1842-1921), Mikhail Bakunin(1814-1876), Pierre-Joseph Proudhon(1809-1865), Max Stirner(1806-1856), [née Johann Kaspar Schmidt], William Godwin(1756-1836) and of course Jonny Rotten from the 1970's rock group The sex Pistols. Of course there is alot more to Anarchy than just saying (or screaming) 'I am an anarchist'.
The case for and against
There are many arguments for and against anarchy. The main case being most popular with the young and rebelious, being they can rule themselves. The main case against is without government, chaos would rule and without government, there would be nothing preventing a new government risisng up to power, which will probably be worse than the one before as power can corrupt minds. The best example of power corrupting minds would be Fidel Castro's communist cuba or Joeseph Stalin's *communist* Russia.
Is Anarchy right or wrong?
Anarchy could has been bad-mouthed by many people, mostly because they believe it relies on trust, like communism and would therefore not work. This however is not true, because where people would rule up to govern everyone, they could not govern the anarchists once there was a state of Anarchy. The way the world is going at the moment- that won't be long.
