The FAQs

Anarchy 101

Anarchy 101: Thinking about Authority and Hierarchy

February 24, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

It is common, when discussing anarchist critiques of “hierarchy” and “authority,” to encounter conflicts between those who consider anarchism a critique of all hierarchy and every form of authority and those who, for one reason or another, object that it is only certain forms of hierarchy and authority that anarchists oppose — or should oppose. We are reminded of “Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,” Bakunin’s “authority of the bootmaker,” etc. For our purposes here, I want to present a general framework that draw sharp distinctions between anarchy and these other elements of social organization. […]

Anarchy 101

Anarchy 101: Thinking about “Crime”

February 11, 2025 Shawn P. Wilbur

This is the first in a series of documents attempting to frame the discussion of key concepts in anarchist theory. The goal is to address a series of frequently asked questions, not necessarily by giving definitive answers to them — as that may often be impossible — but at least by summarizing the particular considerations imposed by a fairly consistently anarchistic approach to the analysis. That means attempting to examine the questions in a context where there is no question of “legitimate” authority, “justified” hierarchy or any of the various sorts of “good government,” “anarchist legal systems,” etc. The guiding assumption here is that the simplest conception of anarchy is one that can be clearly distinguished from every form of archy. If self-proclaimed anarchists might perhaps choose to embrace approaches that are, in practice, more complex or equivocal, there is presumably still value for them in the presentation of more starkly drawn alternatives. For some of us, of course, there simply is no question of any compromise between anarchy and archy. […]