Mutual Exchange on “Anarchy and Democracy”

I’ve been participating in the C4SS “Mutual Exchange” on the topic of “Anarchy and Democracy,” along with a star-studded assembly of anarchists and libertarians from various tendencies. While this is technically the June exchange, it has actually been in progress since early April, with the most recent contribution appearing just a few days ago. As a result, some parts of the debate have had a long time to develop, while others have not, and the order of the contributions and the order of their publication are considerably different in some cases. In the interest of clarifying a few things that might be confusing as a result, this is the order in which my own contributions originally appeared:

  1. Anarchy and Democracy: Examining the Divide — lead essay, submitted April 20 and published June 6.
  2. Anarchism without Anarchy — including a response to Wayne Price, “Democracy, Anarchy, & Freedom” (April 10) and “Anarchy and Democracy: A Response” (April 22), submitted April 22 and published July 4.
  3. Embracing the Antinomies — including a response to Gabriel Amadej, “The Regime of Liberty” (April 10) and some new reflections on possible relations between Proudhon and “market anarchism,” submitted May 25 and published June 26.
  4. Social, but Still Not Democratic — including a response to Wayne Price, “Individualist Anarchism vs. Social Anarchism,” submitted June 29 and published July 2.
  5. Antinomies of Democracy — Including responses to Nathan Goodman, “Anarchism as Radical Liberalism: Radicalizing Markets, Radicalizing Democracy,” Kevin Carson, “On Democracy as a Necessary Anarchist Value,” and Wayne Price, 
”A Last Response to Shawn Wilbur,” with thoughts on a neo-Proudhonian recuperation of “democratic practices,” submitted June 25 and published July 20.

I’m fond of the Mutual Exchange format as an opportunity to explore elements of the neo-Proudhonian project that might not be suggested in other contexts. The earlier exchange on occupancy-and-use property norms provoked the thoughts about “mutual extrication” and this current exchange has offered chances to visit or revisit some other concerns that I had not addressed elsewhere. For those who are attempting to dig out the theoretical nuggets, as well as those who just want to get the order of attack and counterattack correct, this chronology will hopefully help with a few details.

About Shawn P. Wilbur 2702 Articles
Independent scholar, translator and archivist.