Anarcho-capitalism (colloquially: ancap or '"an-cap"') is an anti-statist, libertarian political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforced by private agencies, the non-aggression principle, free markets and self-ownership, which extends the concept to include control of private property as part of the self. In the absence of statute, anarcho-capitalists hold that society tends to contractually self-regulate and civilize through participation in the free market, which they describe as a voluntary society involving the voluntary exchange of goods and services. In a theoretical anarcho-capitalist society, the system of private property would still exist and be enforced by private defense agencies and/or insurance companies selected by customers, which would operate competitively in a market and fulfill the roles of courts and the police.
According to its proponents, various historical theorists have espoused philosophies similar to anarcho-capitalism. While the earliest extant attestation of "anarchocapitalism [sic]" is in Karl Hess's essay "The Death of Politics" published by Playboy in March 1969, the person credited with coining the terms anarcho-capitalism and anarcho-capitalist is Murray Rothbard. Rothbard, a leading figure in the 20th-century American libertarian movement, synthesized elements from the Austrian School, classical liberalism and 19th-century American individualist anarchists and mutualists Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker, while rejecting the labor theory of value. Rothbard's anarcho-capitalist society would operate under a mutually agreed-upon "legal code which would be generally accepted, and which the courts would pledge themselves to follow". This legal code would recognize contracts between individuals, private property, self-ownership and tort law in keeping with the non-aggression principle. Rothbard views the power of the state as unjustified, arguing that it restricts individual rights and prosperity, and creates social and economic problems.
Anarcho-capitalists and right-libertarians cite several historical precedents of what they believe to be examples of quasi-anarcho-capitalism, including the Republic of Cospaia, Acadia, Anglo-Saxon England, Medieval Iceland, the American Old West, Gaelic Ireland, and merchant law, admiralty law, and early common law.
Anarcho-capitalism is distinguished from minarchism, which advocates a night-watchman state limited to protecting individuals from aggression and enforcing private property. Unlike most anarchists, anarcho-capitalists support private property and private institutions.
Classification
Anarcho-capitalism developed from radical American anti-state libertarianism and individualist anarchism. A strong current within anarchism does not consider anarcho-capitalism to be part of the anarchist movement because they argue that anarchism has historically been an anti-capitalist movement and for definitional reasons which see anarchism as incompatible with capitalist forms. According to several scholars, Anarcho-capitalism lies outside the tradition of the vast majority of anarchist schools of thought and is more closely affiliated with capitalism, right-libertarianism and neoliberalism. Social anarchists oppose and reject capitalism, and consider "anarcho-capitalism" to be a contradiction in terms, although some, including anarcho-capitalists and right-libertarians, consider anarcho-capitalism to be a form of anarchism.
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica:Anarcho-capitalism is occasionally seen as part of the New Right.
Philosophy
Author J Michael Oliver says that during the 1960s, a philosophical movement arose in the United States that championed "reason, ethical egoism, and free-market capitalism". According to Oliver, anarcho-capitalism is a political theory which logically follows the philosophical conclusions of Objectivism, a philosophical system developed by Russian-American writer Ayn Rand, but Oliver acknowledges that his advocacy of anarcho-capitalism is "quite at odds with Rand's ardent defense of 'limited government. Professor Lisa Duggan also says that Rand's anti-statist, pro–"free market" stances went on to shape the politics of anarcho-capitalism.
According to Patrik Schumacher, the political ideology and programme of Anarcho-capitalism envisages the radicalization of the neoliberal "rollback of the state", and calls for the extension of "entrepreneurial freedom" and "competitive market rationality" to the point where the scope for private enterprise is all-encompassing and "leaves no space for state action whatsoever".