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Definition: anarchism from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary

(1642) 1 : a political theory holding all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocating a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups 2 : the advocacy or practice of anarchistic principles


anarchism

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Political philosophy that society should have no government, laws, police, or other authority, but should be a free association of all its members. It does not mean ‘without order’, but believes that order can be achieved by cooperation. Anarchism is essentially a pacifist movement and should not be confused with nihilism (a purely negative and destructive activity directed against society). There are different traditions of anarchism. Religious anarchism , claimed by many anarchists to be shown in the early organization of the Christian church, found expression in the social philosophy of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and the Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi. Political anarchism can be traced through the British Romantic writers William Godwin and Percy Bysshe Shelley to the 1848 revolutionaries Pierre Joseph Proudhon in France and the Russian Mikhail Bakunin , who had a strong following in Europe. Anarchist communism found expression in the works of the Russian revolutionary Peter…
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Full text Article anarchism

From Political Philosophy A-Z
It is sensible to divide anarchism into two phenomena – a political movement and a philosophical position. The political movement, associated with Kropotkin and Bakunin and most powerful towards the end of the nineteenth century, is one of extreme hostility to the state. Hostile to the left notion…
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Full text Article Anarchism

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
The social, economic, and political philosophy that all forms of government interfere unfairly with individual liberty and should be abolished, to be replaced by free agreements and voluntary, cooperative, common ownership of property. Anarchists, whose philosophy dates back to ancient times, have…
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Full text Article anarchism

From Philip's Encyclopedia
(Gk. "no government") Political theory that regards the abolition of the state as a prerequisite for equality and social justice. In place of government, anarchy is a social form based upon voluntary cooperation between individuals. Zeno of Citium , leader of the Stoics , is regarded as the…
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Full text Article anarchism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(ăn'ӘrkĭzӘm) [Gr.,=having no government], theory that equality and justice are to be sought through the abolition of the state and the substitution of free agreements between individuals. Central to anarchist thought is the belief that society is natural and that people are good but are corrupted by…
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Full text Article ANARCHISM

From The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics
PROUDHON said, ‘I destroy and I build up’, while Bakunin urged us to ‘put our trust in the eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life’. Anarchists despise DEMOCRACY as enslavement by the majority – voting is the act of…
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Full text Article Anarchism

From Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice
Anarchism is a political ideology that advocates a stateless society comprised of self-governing communities in voluntary association. Anarchists view the state as an agent of oppression, typically working in conjunction with capital to exploit vulnerable elements of society. The basic precept of…
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Full text Article ANARCHISM

From The Edinburgh Dictionary of Modernism
Anarchism is a libertarian ideology that developed around the time of the French Revolution, originating in the work of the rationalist philosopher William Godwin, whose Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793) argued that the external check of law would be unnecessary once humanity had achieved…
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Full text Article anarchism

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Political theory holding all forms of government authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocating a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups. The word was used only pejoratively until Pierre-Joseph Proudhon , now regarded as the founder of…
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Full text Article ANARCHISM

From The Dictionary of Alternatives
The word comes from the Greek for ‘without rulers’ which encapsulates the consensus amongst anarchists that all forms of authority, and particularly state authority, are oppressive as well as socially dysfunctional. Rather, the principles of individual autonomy and voluntary cooperation, undistorted…
| 1,469 words
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Full text Article anarchism

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Political philosophy that society should have no government, laws, police, or other authority, but should be a free association of all its members. It does not mean ‘without order’, but believes that order can be achieved by cooperation. Anarchism is essentially a pacifist movement and should not be…
| 942 words
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