Previously, I’ve suggested that the state should have a role within basic security provision, the courts and a basic income. However, upon continued studying of writers within the anarchist tradition, such as Rothbard and Carson, I have come to a new conclusion that there can be no parameters to the state, as the state itself is an illegitimate and coercive organisation that can have no real place within a libertarian world. Continue reading →

Economic action is only one part of the array of social actions that are played out within the modern economy, and does not subsume social action. Weber’s identification of four types of social action demonstrate this point succinctly. What Weber showed was that the economic basis of social action is only one part of other societal effects on our decision making, such as the culture we are raised in or the ethics we develop. Continue reading →

While List did believe in free trade as an end in it itself, he saw the means to that differently than many of the contemporary classical-liberal accounts of free trade and its development, such as those of Ricardo or Smith. Continue reading →

The idea of justice should be predicated around what is done legitimately. Within a free market system the ideas of private property and free exchange are the backbone of its justification, as these are the examples of individuals exchanging goods and services within their own property. Continue reading →

The rise of the modern American empire would have been no surprise to Enoch Powell. Indeed even in the 40s and 50s he saw the effects of America’s imperial, expansionist foreign policy and believed that Britain should have no part in such folly. Continue reading →

While Locke’s conception of the nation-state is that of a class state, his theory of private property does not defend a class system. Rather, the Lockean conception of private property is in contravention to Locke’s nation-state. Continue reading →

Within Hayek’s Individualism and Economic Order, we see an excellent explanation of the problems of allowing a central planner or any overarching authority to direct the economic actions of individuals and business. Continue reading →

With the recent vote in parliament rejecting a proper recall mechanism, it is more important than ever to stress the importance of proper recall in the modern British electoral system, particularly as an anarchist. For many years, British political power has been centralising exponentially, with the ability for members of parliament to effectively sit idly in the House of Commons and yet still win elections, despite multitudes of people not voting because they’ve come to the realisation that these waste-of-space MPs aren’t worth voting for or against. Continue reading →

The idea of the global trade system being unequal is in my opinion the wrong view to take. The global system of trade is based upon liberalised free trade where nations and businesses can exchange goods without the issues of tariffs, quotas or heavy regulation. However the issue is that certain blocs of nations or individual nations have set up quotas which favour certain nations or regions against others, thus skewing a true free trade system and creating economic inequality. Continue reading →

With the rise of globalisation we live in a seemingly post-modernist world with a high degree of individualism. Within this individualised atmosphere the political elements have followed suit, becoming more focused on single issues that have a global perspective rather than on particular party ideologies that encompass a particular range of ideals. Continue reading →