Anarchy is a political structure where there’s basically no one in charge, right? But wouldn’t that just create a power vacuum that would filled by organized crime, corporations, etc.? Then, after that power vacuum is filled, we’re right back at square one, and someone is in charge.
Are there any political theorists that have come up with a solution to this problem?
If you read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein that may give you an idea.
Otherwise, I attended Porcfest, the libertarian Porcupine Freedom Festival, back in 2016. Although it’s labeled libertarian, most folks I talked to discussed anarchy. One of the presentations I remember asserted that 8 is the optimal number of individuals in a decision making group. In his ideal anarchy individual people would assemble in groups of 8, who would then gather their groups or reps from their groups into a higher group of 8, and so on. Effectively higher level group decisions, if needed, would be made by a council that could be traced back to any individual.
I don’t know that that’s a good plan, but it may get your mind going on how to think about the topic.
Why 8. That is rife for deadlocks
Thanks for the book suggestion.
The 8 people thing is a unique idea. What if you have a family of 9 people though lol? Also if it’s anarchy then who would enforce the rules of keeping the group to only 8 people?
The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin is another great book. The protagonist is from an anarchist moon orbiting a very capitalist planet. The author explains how an anarchic society works in that context.
My argument (this was in a literature class) was that an anarchic society would be virtually impossible to maintain on Earth. Militaries are, by nature, very hierarchical. Anarchists don’t take orders. Unless the anarchists are protected by other countries for some reason, their society would be an easy, tempting target.
That’s why I thought Le Guin’s moon solution was so elegantly simple. It doesn’t even have enough resources to make it worth a single trip, much less a coordinated takeover. Conditions are livable, but barely. Malnutrition and starvation are common. The moon just isn’t worth fighting over, so the government let the anarchists have it. Their demonstrations and protests were causing too much trouble anyway. Everybody was happy with this compromise.
That’s very interesting, I should read the book.
You know things aren’t looking good for the anarchists when the easiest path forward for them is to regroup on the moon lol
I have often wondered about having a voting system with a chit. Like a signed token or such and someone could assign theirs to another they trusted. It would take two tokens to get to level 2 and so on with people who get to the highest level could maybe be part of a tribunal and just below that a court of 9 and below that a congress of 81. things could be passed up and down the chain with people at levels can decide on elections to go over bills. like every level could get do you want an eletion to go over legislation this year and if over 50% of the level does not want to bother then it goes to the next level and so on till the lowest level that has enough interest to do it.