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#REDIRECT [[Night-watchman state]] |
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{{Proposed merge|Night-watchman state|discuss=Talk:Minarchism#Merge with Night-watchman state|date=December 2017}} |
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'''Minarchism''' is a [[Right-libertarianism|right-libertarian]] [[political philosophy]] which advocates for the [[State (polity)|state]] to exist solely to provide a very small number of services. A popular model of the state proposed by minarchists is known as the [[night-watchman state]], in which the only governmental functions are to protect citizens from [[aggression]], [[theft]], [[breach of contract]] and [[fraud]] as defined by [[property law]]s, limiting it to three institutions: the [[military]], the [[police]] and [[courts]]. The word "minarchist" was coined by [[Samuel Edward Konkin III]] in 1980.<ref>Samuel Edward Konkin III, [[New Libertarian Manifesto]], 1980, p. 9.</ref> It differs from [[anarchism]] in that it is not completely based on [[voluntaryism|voluntary association]]. |
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== Etymology == |
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{{R to related}} |
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"Minarchy" is a contraction of "minimum" and ''-archy''. ''[[Arche]]'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr|k|i}}; {{lang-grc|[[:wikt:ἀρχή|ἀρχή]]}}) is a Greek word which came to mean "first place, power", "method of government", "empire, realm", "authorities" (in plural: {{lang|grc|ἀρχαί}}), "command".<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*a%3Aentry+group%3D318%3Aentry%3Da%29rxh%2F ἀρχή], ''[[A Greek-English Lexicon]]''</ref> |
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== Philosophy == |
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{{Forms of government}} |
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Minarchists argue that it is ''[[malum in se]]'' for a [[government]] to interfere in transactions between people by [[tax]]ing for services not directly related to the protection of citizens.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} |
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Some minarchists argue that a state is inevitable,<ref name="Knight in Iowa City by Emmett">{{Cite book | publisher = Emerald Group Publishing | isbn = 978-1-78052-008-7 | last = Emmett | first = Ross B. | title = Frank H. Knight in Iowa City, 1919–1928 | date = 2011-08-12 }}</ref> thus believing anarchy to be futile. Minarchists justify the necessity of the state on the grounds that private defence agencies and courts could be biased by unevenly representing the interests of higher paying clients.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable|author=Holcombe, Randall G. http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_08_3_holcombe.pdf}}</ref> [[Robert Nozick]], who publicized the idea of a minimal state in ''[[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]]'', argued that a night-watchman state provides a framework that allows for any political system that respects fundamental individual rights, and therefore morally justifies the existence of a state.<ref name="Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Nozick">{{Cite book | publisher = Basic Books | isbn = 978-0-465-09720-3 | last = Nozick | first = Robert | title = Anarchy, State, and Utopia | year = 1974 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gordon |first=David |authorlink=David Gordon (economist)|editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |title= Minimal State |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher= [[SAGE Publications|SAGE]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n204|isbn= 978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 |pages=332–34 |quote= |ref= }}</ref> |
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== Criticism == |
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{{uncited-section|date=December 2017}} |
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Proponents of an [[Economic interventionism|economically interventionist state]] argue it is best to evaluate the merits of government intervention on a case-by-case basis in order to address [[recession]]s (''see'' [[Keynesian economics]]) or [[Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth|existential threats]].{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} |
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[[Social liberalism|Social liberals]] and [[social democrats]] argue that a government should be able to appropriate private wealth in order to better reach a society-wide optimum (as opposed to each actor sub-optimizing for themselves). This may include ensuring care for disadvantaged or dependent people such as the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, immigrants, the homeless and the poor.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} |
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[[social conservatism|Social conservatives]] argue that the state should maintain a [[moral code|moral]] outlook and legislate against behavior commonly regarded as culturally destructive or immoral, proposing that the state cannot survive if its citizens do not have [[civic virtue]]{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} |
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[[Left-libertarianism|Left-libertarians]], such as [[Libertarian socialism|libertarian socialists]] and [[Anarchism|anarchists]], argue that the inherent inequalities within a society under a minarchist system would further be exacerbated by the accumulation of private wealth by the already wealthy and private landowners and thus argue that a properly functioning libertarian system needs [[common ownership]] and [[Worker cooperatives|worker collectives]].{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} |
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[[Deontological libertarianism|Deontological]] [[anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalists]] argue that states or governments are ''malum in se'' and violate the [[non-aggression principle]] by their very existence, contending that private markets should supply all goods and services, including all legal and protective services as well as the means of exchange. [[Consequentialist libertarianism|Consequentialist]] anarcho-capitalists criticize all state or state-sanctioned [[monopoly|monopolies]], citing them as corrupt and inefficient for eliminating or artificially restricting competition through laws and regulations.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} |
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== Minarchist projects == |
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There have been initiatives to create minarchist states. |
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* In 2001, [[Jason Sorens]], an American Ph.D in political science and economics, founded the [[Free State Project]], a plan of mass migration to the state of [[New Hampshire]] in order to establish there an independent government founded on libertarian principles.<ref>{{cite news |title=Libertarians Pursue New Political Goal: State of Their Own |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/27/us/libertarians-pursue-new-political-goal-state-of-their-own.html?pagewanted=all |first=Pam |last=Belluck |publisher=''[[The New York Times]]'' |date=October 27, 2003 |accessdate=May 26, 2011}}</ref> One of the project's initial goals was to collect a petition with 20,000 signers declaring their intent to move to the state; this was achieved in February 2016.<ref name=membership>{{cite web|title=Membership Statistics|url=http://freestateproject.org/about/membership-statistics|publisher=Free State Project|accessdate=26 January 2016}}</ref> |
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* In 2015, Czech politician and libertarian activist [[Vít Jedlička]] proclaimed the [[Free Republic of Liberland]] on a disputed area between Serbia and Croatia on the margin of the [[Danube river]].<ref name=Vice-Nolan>{{cite news|last1=Nolan|first1=Daniel|title=Welcome to Liberland: Europe's Newest State|url=//news.vice.com/article/welcome-to-liberland-europes-newest-state|accessdate=25 April 2015|publisher=Vice News|date=25 April 2015}}</ref> The project aims to establish Liberland as a libertarian [[micronation]] with voluntary taxation in the region.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Stroukal|first1=Dominik|title=Několik nestrukturovaných poznámek k Liberlandu|url=http://www.mises.cz/clanky/nekolik-nestrukturovanych-poznamek-k-liberlandu-1744.aspx|accessdate=18 April 2015|publisher=Ludwig von Mises Institut – Česko & Slovensko|date=18 April 2015|language=Czech}}</ref> In the first week following the creation of Liberland's official website, over 200,000 people applied for citizenship.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/24/liberland-hundreds-of-thousands-apply-to-live-in-worlds-newest-country?CMP=fb_gu | title=Liberland: hundreds of thousands apply to live in world's newest 'country' | publisher=The Guardian | date=24 April 2015 | accessdate=24 April 2015 | author=Nolan, Daniel | quote="In the week since Liberland announced its creation and invited prospective residents to join the project, they have received about 200,000 citizenship applications – one every three seconds – from almost every country in the world."}}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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* [[Anarcho-capitalism and minarchism]] – comparison and relation between the two theories |
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Minarchist or similar models and concepts: |
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* [[Night-watchman state]] – a model of minarchy which recognizes only police, courts, and national defense forces as legitimate provisions of government{{fact|date=December 2017}} |
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* [[Small government]] – a government intended to intervene little on peoples' economic and individual activities |
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* [[Limited government]] – a government whose actions are limited by its law |
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Related or encompassing philosophies: |
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* [[Right-libertarianism]] – encompasses both theories as [[anti-statism|anti-statist]] [[market economy]] or ''[[laissez-faire]]'' philosophies; advocates either the full privatization of the [[means of production]] including land (economic sense), or else conservative social values such as traditional morality, conventional aesthetics and natural inequality (cultural sense) |
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* [[Classical liberalism]] – the 18th-century Enlightenment political philosophy that together with 19th-century [[individualist anarchism]] gave rise to the modern right-libertarian movement |
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* [[Georgism]] – an economic philosophy holding that while people should own the value they produce themselves, economic value derived from land and natural resources should belong equally to all members of society |
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* [[Geolibertarianism]] – an economically [[radical centrism|centrist]] or [[left-libertarianism|left-libertarian]] model in which all necessary operations of government are funded by the [[land value tax|collection]] of market [[economic rent|rental value]] from private [[land (economics)|land holdings]], understood as an [[optimal tax]] or fee on the monopolization of natural opportunities, the surplus revenue being [[citizen's dividend|distributed]] to residents as a form of [[basic income]] |
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* [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]] – a [[rationalism|rationalist]], [[atheism|atheist]] and [[ethical egoism|ethical egoist]] philosophical system proposed by Russian-American [[philosophical novel|novelist]] [[Ayn Rand]], who supported ''laissez-faire'' capitalism and opposed collectivism, altruistic morality and state authority |
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Other terms used by right-libertarians: |
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* [[Big government]] – a government with a large bureaucracy that intervenes in many sectors of civil society, perceived as inefficient, corrupt and lacking in transparency |
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* [[Statism]] – general support for large-scale state intervention and highly centralized government authority, coined by Ayn Rand |
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* [[Economic interventionism]] – state intervention into economic affairs, either to generate demand for particular goods and services, nationalize industry, reshape the wealth distribution and combat material inequalities attributed to market freedom, restrict private sector competition, or promote domestic over foreign trade (see [[protectionism]]) |
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* [[Nanny state]] – a pejorative term for an overprotective, overinvolved and paternalistic [[welfare state]] |
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* [[Paternalism]] – the belief that a state (or other organization) ought to make decisions on behalf of individuals who are presumed to be unable or unwilling to do so |
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* [[Social engineering (political science)|Social engineering]] – the concept of a state or other powerful group manipulating society |
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* [[Welfare state]] – the concept of state promoting well-being of citizens, leading to intervention on a great number of sectors |
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== References == |
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{{reflist}} |
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[[Category:Minarchism| ]] |
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Latest revision as of 18:32, 16 July 2020
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