Anarchism - minarchism : is a government part of a free country?

It is well known that the radical libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick sharply distinguished his vision of the free society from egalitarian liberals such as John Rawls. Less remarked upon is the distinction he drew between the free society governed by a strictly limited government, commonly referred to as 'minarchism', and the society without any government at all - anarchism.In this volume, the editors, Long - an anarchist, and Machan - a minarchist, have brought together a selection of specially commissioned essays from the key theorists actively involved in this debate. Each tackles the question of whether or not a government forms a legitimate part of a free society from a variety of perspectives or whether anarchy/minarchy is merely a distinction without a difference. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Notes on Contributors......Page 10 PART 1: MINARCHISM......Page 14 1 Why the State Needs a Justification......Page 16 2 Libertarianism, Limited Government and Anarchy......Page 28 3 Rationality, History, and Inductive Politics......Page 34 4 Objectivism against Anarchy......Page 52 5 Reconciling Anarchism and Minarchism......Page 72 PART 2: ANARCHISM......Page 98 6 Radical Freedom and Social Living......Page 100 7 The State: From Minarchy to Anarchy......Page 116 8 The Obviousness of Anarchy......Page 124 9 Market Anarchism as Constitutionalism......Page 146 10 Liberty, Equality, Solidarity: Toward a Dialectical Anarchism......Page 168 C......Page 202 G......Page 203 L......Page 204 M......Page 205 P......Page 206 S......Page 207 V......Page 208 W......Page 209 It is well known that the radical libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick sharply distinguished his vision of the free society from egalitarian liberals such as John Rawls. Less remarked upon is the distinction he drew between the free society governed by a strictly limited government, commonly referred to as 'minarchism', and the society without any government at all - anarchism. In this volume, the editors, Long - an anarchist - and Machan - a minarchist - have brought together a selection of specially commissioned essays from key theorists actively involved in this debate. Each tackles the question of whether or not a government forms a legitimate part of a free society or whether anarchy/minarchy is merely a distinction without a difference. Preface / Roderick Long and Tibor R.Machan Notes on contributors Minarchism Why the state needs a justification / Lester H. Hunt Libertarianism, limited government and anarchy / John Roger Lee Rationality, history and inductive politics / Adam Reed Objectivism against anarchy / William Thomas Reconciling anarchism and minarchism / Tibor R. Machan Anarchism Radical freedom and social living / Aeon James Skoble The state: from minarchy to anarchy / Jan Narveson The obviousness of anarchy / John Hasnas Market anarchism as constitutionalism / Roderick T. Long Liberty, equality, solidarity: toward a dialectical anarchism / Charles Johnson.