In contrast to common misconceptions, the anarchy sought by most anarchists is emphatically not the absence of order, rules, and organized structure -- the proper name of which is chaos or anomie. On the contrary, the anarchy sought by anarchists is the absence of hierarchy, power and authority, which the anarchists consider as immoral, oppressive, detrimental, and sources of violence, disorder and misery. Anarchists claim that human relations should be based only upon voluntary associations.

For historical details about the word "anarchism", and information on its proper usage, see the article etymology of the word anarchism. See also the word "libertarian".

Diversity of Anarchism

On first approximation, we can distinguish three main trends in anarchist traditions:

• individualist anarchism insists on individual autonomy[?] against authority and coercion.
• libertarian socialism proposes self-management[?] in an egalitarian society.
• anarcho-capitalism rests on the classical liberal philosophy of individual property rights.

These trends are not always mutually exclusive, and do not cover all the nuances of anarchist movements that may or may not be loosely attached to them.

For more details, see the article Diversity of anarchism.

Thematic articles

Anarchism is vast subject that touches a lot of topics. Below are links to articles that discuss and argue various aspects of anarchism, from the points of view of anarchists of various trends, as well as of non-anarchists.

• anarchism and private property (discusses socialism vs capitalism, etc.)
• historical origins of anarchism (up to the nineteenth century)
• past and present anarchist communities (actual experience)
• justice without government[?] (how to solve conflicts in anarchist societies)
• anarchism and democracy[?] (what place for democracy in an anarchy?)
• anarchism and violence (some are revolutionaries, other are non-violent, etc.)
• anarchism and nature (ecology vs technology, etc.)
• anarchism and sex (marriage, sexism, etc.)
• anarchism and counter-culture[?]
• spanish anarchism[?] (the anarchist movement and spanish civil war)
• unclassified anarchists[?] (anarchists who do not clearly fit categories)

See also

• individualist anarchism, voluntaryism
• libertarian socialism, anarcho-syndicalism, anarcho-communism, Class War, syndicalism, anti-globalization movement
• nihilism, primitivism, green anarchism, eco-anarchism, social ecology, anarchafeminism, anarchist groups, anarchism in the arts, anarcho punk, pacifism, tolstoyans, situationists, TAZ
• anarcho-capitalism, libertarianism, classical liberalism, panarchism
• anarchy, anomie, State, statism
• ideology, politics, political models
• crypto-anarchism

Terms of Anarchist Theory

• intellectual worker

External links

• The Anarchist Theory FAQ (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/anarfaq.htm) as posted (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/anarchy/theory/faq/) on Usenet, "with a strong emphasis upon the many Net controversies between left-anarchists and anarcho-capitalists."
• Also note the Anarchist FAQ (http://www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html), a FAQ written by (left) anarchists.