Against Politics: On Government, Anarchy, and Order (Electronic book text)

Government depends on collective decision making. Even in peaceful democracies, some decide for all. Challenging the morality of this position, this text argues that it is not different political systems that are at fault so much as the very nature of politics itself.; This text pulls together de Jasay's key work in this area over the last ten years. In the first section of the book de Jasay attacks contractarian thought and the very notion of the legitimacy of politics. In the final section he outlines an alternative vision, a form of ordered anarchy based on social virtues, achievements and institutions which exist prior to government and which are not contingent on political arrangements. The book provides an insight into a radical form of libertarianism which renders even the most minimal form of state redundant.