Anarchism Old and New

Abstract

Anarchism is complex, multifaceted and fragmented — like most ideologies. Its history is a rich and diverse one, and it boasts many theorists whose contributions to political philosophy stand proudly alongside the weight of the liberal and Marxist ones. It contains a core set of principles to which most anarchists subscribe, but these principles are broadly interpreted and diversely applied within the panorama of ideas and schools that it accommodates. This breadth includes an anarchism of the left and an anarchism of the right, even if much of the left is loathe to embrace the right’s anarcho-capitalism into its fold. Anarchism has been described as a fertile ideology with a ‘broad back’ (Guerin 1970), one that contains an eclectic mix of theorists, activists, ideas and strategies. But in refusing to adopt traditional routes of political transformation, and in its long and unflinching opposition to the state and its institutions, it has long struggled to be taken seriously as a ‘practical’ political ideology. Often dismissed as hopelessly utopian, the rich intellectual and philosophical offerings of anarchism gathered considerably more dust than most of the other traditions. But many see in the anti-capitalist politics of the early 21^st century the dusting off of an anarchism whose relevance resonates with an increasing number of radicals, and whose principles are helping to shape contemporary dissent.