In Defense of Anarchism

In Defense of Anarchism
Author: Robert Paul Wolff
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 124
Release: 1998-09-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780520215733

With a new preface, Robert Paul Wolff's classic analysis of the foundations of the authority of the state and the problems of political authority and moral autonomy in a democracy.

Two Cheers for Anarchism

Two Cheers for Anarchism
Author: James C. Scott
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2014-03-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691161038

A spirited defense of the anarchist approach to life James Scott taught us what's wrong with seeing like a state. Now, in his most accessible and personal book to date, the acclaimed social scientist makes the case for seeing like an anarchist. Inspired by the core anarchist faith in the possibilities of voluntary cooperation without hierarchy, Two Cheers for Anarchism is an engaging, high-spirited, and often very funny defense of an anarchist way of seeing—one that provides a unique and powerful perspective on everything from everyday social and political interactions to mass protests and revolutions. Through a wide-ranging series of memorable anecdotes and examples, the book describes an anarchist sensibility that celebrates the local knowledge, common sense, and creativity of ordinary people. The result is a kind of handbook on constructive anarchism that challenges us to radically reconsider the value of hierarchy in public and private life, from schools and workplaces to retirement homes and government itself. Beginning with what Scott calls "the law of anarchist calisthenics," an argument for law-breaking inspired by an East German pedestrian crossing, each chapter opens with a story that captures an essential anarchist truth. In the course of telling these stories, Scott touches on a wide variety of subjects: public disorder and riots, desertion, poaching, vernacular knowledge, assembly-line production, globalization, the petty bourgeoisie, school testing, playgrounds, and the practice of historical explanation. Far from a dogmatic manifesto, Two Cheers for Anarchism celebrates the anarchist confidence in the inventiveness and judgment of people who are free to exercise their creative and moral capacities.

Conflicts of Law and Morality

Conflicts of Law and Morality
Author: Kent Greenawalt
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 396
Release: 1989
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0195058240

Powerful emotion and pursuit of self-interest have many times led people to break the law with the belief that they are doing so with sound moral reasons. This study is a comprehensive philosophical and legal analysis of the gray area in which the foundations of law and morality clash. In examining the extent of the obligations owed by citizens to their government, Greenawalt concentrates on the possible existence of a single source of obligation that reaches all citizens and all laws.

Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Author: Robert Nozick
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 386
Release: 1974
Genre: Anarchism
ISBN: 063119780X

Robert Nozicka s Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a powerful, philosophical challenge to the most widely held political and social positions of our age ---- liberal, socialist and conservative.

The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism

The Political Philosophy of Poststructuralist Anarchism
Author: Todd May
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 148
Release: 1994-07-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0271039078

The political writings of the French poststructuralists have eluded articulation in the broader framework of general political philosophy primarily because of the pervasive tendency to define politics along a single parameter: the balance between state power and individual rights in liberalism and the focus on economic justice as a goal in Marxism. What poststructuralists like Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean-François Lyotard offer instead is a political philosophy that can be called tactical: it emphasizes that power emerges from many different sources and operates along many different registers. This approach has roots in traditional anarchist thought, which sees the social and political field as a network of intertwined practices with overlapping political effects. The poststructuralist approach, however, eschews two questionable assumptions of anarchism, that human beings have an (essentially benign) essence and that power is always repressive, never productive. After positioning poststructuralist political thought against the background of Marxism and the traditional anarchism of Bakunin, Kropotkin, and Proudhon, Todd May shows what a tactical political philosophy like anarchism looks like shorn of its humanist commitments—namely, a poststructuralist anarchism. The book concludes with a defense, contra Habermas and Critical Theory, of poststructuralist political thought as having a metaethical structure allowing for positive ethical commitments.

Anarchy and Legal Order

Anarchy and Legal Order
Author: Gary Chartier
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2013
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1107032288

This book elaborates and defends law without the state. It explains why the state is illegitimate, dangerous and unnecessary.

The Cambridge Companion to Civil Disobedience

The Cambridge Companion to Civil Disobedience
Author: William E. Scheuerman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 457
Release: 2021-07-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108804845

The theory and practice of civil disobedience has once again taken on import, given recent events. Considering widespread dissatisfaction with normal political mechanisms, even in well-established liberal democracies, civil disobedience remains hugely important, as a growing number of individuals and groups pursue political action. 'Digital disobedients', Black Lives Matter protestors, Extinction Rebellion climate change activists, Hong Kong activists resisting the PRC's authoritarian clampdown...all have practiced civil disobedience. In this Companion, an interdisciplinary group of scholars reconsiders civil disobedience from many perspectives. Whether or not civil disobedience works, and what is at stake when protestors describe their acts as civil disobedience, is systematically examined, as are the legacies and impact of Henry Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King.

Anarchism as Political Philosophy

Anarchism as Political Philosophy
Author: Robert Hoffman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351531840

Reports of people rejecting political authority, assaulting it with words and often violent acts, are actions that are part of modern life. Anarchism has been considered a dead movement of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, but it assumed a renewed and substantial relevance in the late twentieth century. Robert Hoffman points out in his incisive Introduction that anarchists have always been viewed either as foolish idealists or, at the other extreme, as serious threats to justice and social tranquility. But, the editor argues, most anarchists have been ordinary people who have shared a singular passion for what they believe to be a just society.To clarify widespread misconceptions about anarchism, this volume offers a lively debate on the subject, consisting of works by both advocates of anarchism and people who take it seriously but reject it. Represented here, in the writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, and others, are different types, styles, and periods of anarchist writing, reflecting a rich variety of thought arising from the anarchist perspective. The essays deal with many of the different strands of anarchists, including anarchist attacks on democracy, patriotism, and military conscription, and provide an outline of the movement's tumultuous history. Against these are set pieces that argue anarchism's impossibility and estimate its relevance to social change.The debate format of Anarchism introduces the reader to a fresh perspective and understanding of vital issues of political and social theory, and provokes him to examine his own thinking. Looking at both sides of the controversy, this volume discourages unquestioning or over-confident opinions. Although the anarchist credo that man can live without government is difficult or impossible for most people to accept, as long as we find it difficult to live within the framework of government control, the influence and potenti

New Developments in Anarchist Studies

New Developments in Anarchist Studies
Author: P. J. Lilley
Publisher: punctum books
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2015-06-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0988234092

Produced by the North American Anarchist Studies Network (NAASN), and edited by Jeff Shantz and pj lilley, this volume comprises papers from NAASN's 5th Conference [La Red Norteamericana de Estudios Anarquistas / Le Reseau Nord-Americain d'etudes Anarchistes]. Anarchism is experiencing a remarkable resurgence in the new millennium. Not only active in the streets across Turtle Island, growing interest in anarchist scholarship is perhaps unprecedented. This is reflected in the development of the North American Anarchist Studies Network (NAASN). Drawn from papers presented at the fifth NAASN conference in Surrey (on Coast Salish Territories), this collection shows the vitality of contemporary anarchist research and writing. TABLE OF CONTENTS // 1 Anarchism from the Margins: Introducing New Developments in Anarchist Studies Jeff Shantz 2 Social Capital In Anarchist Movements Dana M. Williams 3 Marginalization of Anarchism within Mainstream Criminology: A Content Analysis Christopher Howell 4 Sexuality, Assault, Police Infiltration and Foucault: Notes for Further Inquiry Dr. Michael Loadenthal 5 Abolition Journal: Introduction & Manifesto Introduced by Brian Lovato & Eli Meyerhoff 6 In Defense of Counterposed Strategic Orientations: Anarchism and Antiracism Jakub Burkowicz 7 Anti-State Resistance On Stolen Land: Settler Colonialism, Settler Identity And The Imperative Of Anarchist Decolonization Adam Gary Lewis 8 A Diversity of Media Tactics: Grassroots Autonomous Media in Montrea Sandra Jeppesen, Anna Kruzynski, Aaron Lakoff and Rachel Sarrasin-Collectif de recherche sur l'autonomie collective (CRAC) 9 Radical Politics in a Conservative Capital: Anarchist Groups and Projects in Edmonton Robert Hlatky 10 The Right to the City Begins on the Street Dr. Katherine Dunster 11 Anarchist Surrealism & Canadian Apocalyptic Modernism: Allusive Political Praxis in Elizabeth Smart's "By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept" James Gifford 12 Mesoamerica Resiste! Excerpts from the companion guide to the graphic narrative The Beehive Design Collective APPENDIXES // Appendix 1: NAASN Statement of Purpose Appendix 2: NAASN5 Call for Papers (Fall, 2013) Appendix 3: NAASN5 Full Schedule + Forum on Indigenous Food Sovereignty + Surrey Anarchist Bookfair Appendix 4: A Few Words about Surrey Appendix 5: Indigenous Food Sovereignty Forum Appendix 6: Surrey Anarchist Bookfair Poster Appendix 7: Surrey Anarchist Bookfair Tablers"