Anti-statism

Anti-statism is any approach to social, economic or political philosophy that rejects statism. An anti-statist is one who opposes intervention by the state into personal, social and economic affairs. In anarchism, this is characterized by a complete rejection of all involuntary hierarchical rulership. Anti-statism is present in a variety of greatly differing positions and encompasses an array of diametric concepts and practices. Anti-statists differ greatly according to the beliefs they hold in addition to anti-statism as significant difficulty in determining whether a thinker or philosophy is anti-statist is the problem of defining the state itself. Terminology has changed over time and past writers often used the word state in a different sense than we use it today. Anarchist Mikhail Bakunin used the term simply to mean a governing organization while other writers used the term state to mean any lawmaking or law enforcement agency. Revolutionary socialist Karl Marx defined the state as the institution used by the ruling class of a country to maintain the conditions of its rule. According to liberal Max Weber, the state is an organization with an effective legal monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force in a particular geographic area. Anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard views the power of the state as unjustified, arguing that it restricts individual rights and prosperity, and creates social and economic problems. Anti-militarism is the opposition to "military rule, high military expenditure or the imposition of foreign bases". It is an opposition to statist military policy, especially nuclear armament, and is closely associated with pacifism. Anarcho-pacifism is a radical form of these principles. Civil disobedience is the practiced rejection of the legislative authority of the state. This is usually defined as pertaining to the relationship between the laws of the state and the citizen. Civil disobedience often aims to challenge the legitimacy of a political or judicial ruling through protest.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (2)

Related concepts (16)

Stateless society

A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently-held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through predefined rules tend to be small. Different stateless societies feature highly variable economic systems and cultural practices.

Classless society

The term classless society refers to a society in which no one is born into a social class. Distinctions of wealth, income, education, culture, or social network might arise and would only be determined by individual experience and achievement in such a society. Thus, the concept posits not the absence of a social hierarchy but the uninheritability of class status. Helen Codere defines social class as a segment of the community, the members of which show a common social position in a hierarchical ranking.

Withering away of the state

Withering away of the state is a Marxist concept coined by Friedrich Engels referring to the idea that, with the realization of socialism, the state will eventually become obsolete and cease to exist as society will be able to govern itself without the state and its coercive enforcement of the law. The phrase stems from Friedrich Engels, who wrote in part 3, chapter 2 of Anti-Dühring (1878): The interference of the state power in social relations becomes superfluous in one sphere after another, and then ceases of itself.

Architecture, environnement et artefact total : la ville selon Reyner Banham et Oswald Mathias Ungers

Thibaut Jean Bernard Pierron

When looking at the city and the land, current architectural practices face a double limitation. On the one hand, the discipline is asked to react to its own specter: the body of authoritarian spatial devices based on a questionable tradition of which the ...

EPFL2021

Multi-agent modelling of electricity markets

Abdelaziz Lahlou

This thesis describes the development of three conceptual models built to serve as decision support tools in liberalised electricity markets. The introduction of competition, higher uncertainty and decentralised planning requires new planning and analysis ...

EPFL2007