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Glen
Tenney's Online Resources
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By John Hasnas |
35 pages, forthcoming 2007 |
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If the
State Falls, Does Society Crumble? By Lew Rockwell |
2 pages, 2007 |
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Small
States, Global Economy: Is Empire Necessary? By Jeffrey Herbener |
As part of his critique of leviathan, Herbener
argues that, “an institution resting on aggression against private property
cannot be the defender of private property.” (6
pages, 2006) |
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Can the
State Improve a Hobbesian World? By Edward Stringham |
This article is a short
introduction to a new book, Anarchy,
State and Public Choice, which is a collection of articles that include
both reprints of older public choice theorists who had previously concluded
that the state was necessary and new pieces from younger theorists who
challenge that view. (5 pages, 2006) |
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The Idea
of a Private Law Society By Hans Hoppe |
5 pages, 2006 |
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Does the
State Resolve or Create Conflict? By Hans Hoppe |
In this article, Hoppe
suggests that it is multiple ownership of one and the same stock of goods –
which implies the institution of a state -- which first makes conflict
unavoidable and permanent. (3 pages, 2006) |
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By James Redford |
In this interesting
article, the author makes an attempt to show that Jesus can be interpreted as
an anarchist. The author cites many scriptures that are commonly used to
justify the state, and suggests how they all—when interpreted “correctly” of
course—actually demonstrate the radical libertarianism of Jesus. (61 pages,
2006) |
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The
Origins of Individualist Anarchism in the US By |
6 pages, 2006 |
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Should We
Love or Loathe the Mafia? By Robert Murphy |
3 pages, 2005 |
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Liberty
and Order, Home and Abroad By Robert Murphy |
3 pages, 2005 |
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The
Possibility of Private Law By Robert Murphy |
5 pages, 2005 |
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But
Wouldn’t Warlords Take Over By Robert Murphy |
4 pages, 2005 |
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Does Iraq Show That
We Need a State? By Hans Hoppe |
Hoppe here refutes the idea
that the current situation in |
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By Peter Leeson and Edward Stringham |
This short article suggests
that Holcombe’s view of “inevitable government” is flawed because it fails to
show both that anarchy must break down and that limited government will not.
(12 pages, 2004) |
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The
Ethics and Economics of Private Property By Hans Hoppe |
15 pages, 2004 |
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Government: Unnecessary but Inevitable
by Randall Holcombe |
Addressing the theoretical
and practical conflict between anarchists and minarchists,
Holcombe suggests that governments are formed not to create goods and
services for their citizens but to extract benefits for those involved in
government by way of coercion. In the end, Holcombe sees no way around some
form of coercive government. (17 pages, 2004) |
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Do Pessimistic
Assumptions About Human Behavior Justify Government? By Ben Powell and Chris Coyne |
Powell and Coyne address
the “conceptual social contract” theory of James Buchanan and the “roving
bandit” model of Olson and McGuire—two explanations for the evolution and
existence of government—and find that they do not necessarily, even given
pessimistic assumptions, demonstrate the superiority of government over a
state of nature. (20 pages, 2003) |
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The Will to be
Free: The Role of Ideology in National Defense By Jeffrey Rogers Hummel |
15 pages, 2001 |
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The Private Production of Defense by Hans H. Hoppe |
In this article, UNLV Professor Hans Hoppe outlines how states cannot and do not provide security against aggression, and how private insurance companies would provide these services in a pure capitalist society. (16 pages, 1999) |
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Networks, Anarcho-Capitalism, and the Paradox of Cooperation By Bryan Caplan and Edward Stringham |
In this unfinished
manuscript, Caplan and Stringham
refute the argument that the network industry attributes of a free-market in
defense services would make collusion especially feasible and therefore
unworkable. (31 pages, 2001) |
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Democracy: The God That Failed by Hans H. Hoppe |
The link here provides a short summary of the book, the table of contents, and the full text of the 12-page introduction to the book. The book highlights the shortcomings of democratic governance, puts forth the natural market order as the best alternative, and provides a good discussion of old-style monarchy as being ethically and economically superior to democracy. (The whole book is 305 pages, 2001) |
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National Good
versus Public Goods: Defense, Disarmament, and Free Riders By Jeffrey Rogers Hummel |
Hummel suggests that the
state may be involved in two distinct activities: protection of itself and
protection of the people under its jurisdiction. Due to pervasive free rider
problems that exist in democratic governments, the question of whether
governments protect their citizens or exploit the citizens is addressed. “People believe the State defends their
liberty; in fact, they end up surrendering their liberty to defend the
State.” |
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Natural Elites, Intellectuals, and the State by Hans. H. Hoppe |
Hoppe here provides a trenchant analysis of the origin of states, and carefully examines the role of intellectuals in the continued existence of the state. (8 pages, 1992) |
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Fallacies of the Public Goods Theory and the Production of Security by Hans H. Hoppe |
In this article, Hoppe disposes of a common economic justification for state intervention in the economy -- the well known theory of public goods. Hoppe shows how this theory is specifically not applicable to defense services. (20 pages, 1989) |
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By John Hasnas |
47 pages, 1995 |
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The Political Economy of Monarchy and Democracy, and the Idea of a Natural Order by Hans H. Hoppe |
Many of the insights from this article eventually found their way into Hoppe's 2001 book, Democracy: The God that Failed. Topics include 1) a comparative analysis of the economics of private and public government, 2) the historical transformation from monarchy to democracy for most modern states, and 3) an excellent analysis of the present-orientedness brought about by democracies. (28 pages, 1995) |
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Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography by Hans H. Hoppe |
This comprehensive bibliography includes links to several hard-copy books written by various influential anarchists from the past, as well as direct links to many articles of various authors written for academic journals. (9 pages, 2001) |
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by |
This piece is perhaps the late UNLV Professor Murray Rothbard's hardest hitting critique of government. After reading this article, one can have no doubts about why Rothbard sees all states as illegitimate institutions. This article is a chapter from Rothbard's larger work called Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature. (20 pages, 1974) |
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Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State by |
Rothbard here takes on the minarchist views of Robert Nozick, wherein Nozick sees minimalist government arising through an "invisible hand" that does not violate rights. Rothbard argues that there is no evidence that any state has ever developed in such a manner, and that it is impossible to do so. (13 pages, 1977) |
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Nations by Consent: Decomposing the Nation-State by |
Here Rothbard sees recent breaking up of large states into smaller nationalities as a pattern that shows some promise for those who see the concept of government itself as discomforting. He addresses prospects for secession, conceptual problems with democratic governance, and the unimportance of voting rights in a free society. (10 pages, 1994) |
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The Fallacy of the Public Sector
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Should government
expenditures be subtracted from the national product in order to gauge the
impact of government on society? Rothbard argues such in this provocative
essay.(1961, 4 pages) |
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The Invisible Hand Strikes Back by Roy Childs |
This short article by Roy Childs is a point-by-point refutation of Nozick's justification for a minimal state. (11 pages, 1977) |
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On the Duty of Civil
Disobedience By Henry David Thoreau |
6 pages, 1849 |
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by Gustave de Molinari |
Molinari, in this paper, was one of the first anarchists to tackle the question of whether the production of security is fundamentally different from the production of other goods. In the end, he is convinced there is no difference. (14 pages, 1849) |
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The Free Market Model versus Government: A Reply to Nozick By John T. Sanders |
Sanders suggests that the "Dominant Protective Agency" of the free market is emphatically not a state, and is not justified in taking the coercive steps necessary in becoming one. (10 pages, 1977) |
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The Culture of Individualist Anarchism in Late 19th-Century America by Wendy McElroy |
In the article, McElroy reviews the various individualist writers of the late nineteenth century as they battled the statist sentiments of the time. (14 pages, 1981) |
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The Role of Personal Justice in Anarcho-Capitalism by Karl T. Fielding |
In this very short article, Fielding argues that there are incentives in free-market courts that bring about more fairness than government courts. (3 pages, 1978) |
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Free Market Transportation: Denationalizing the Roads by Walter Block |
In this article, Block explains how the free market can provide superior and far safer road and highway services if it was allowed to. Since public ownership and control of roads is often taken as a given by most casual thinkers, this article is of great importance. (30 pages, 1980) |
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Whither Anarchy? Has Robert Nozick Justified the State? by Randy Barnett |
Barnett is a professor of law at Harvard, and this article suggests that while anarchists face the burden of practical proof for bringing about a radical change to ordered anarchy, the moral burden of proof is faced by those who seek to impose a state on society. (7 pages, 1977) |
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Revisiting Anarchism and Government by Tibor Machan |
In this unfinished piece, |
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by George Reisman |
In this article, Pepperdine University Professor George Reisman provides an approach to determining the true size of the government in the U.S. relative to total output in the economy, stipulates what he sees as legitimate functions of government, and then explains how especially the poor would be better off if government were limited to just activities associated with protection of rights. (12 pages, 2003) |
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by Lysander Spooner |
A prominent abolitionist, Lysander Spooner puts forth a case in opposition to the legitimacy of the U.S. Constitution. In the web page that comes up, you will need to scroll down to the three sections of No Treason. (61 pages, 1867) |
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by Frederic Bastiat |
This little book by the French economist Frederic Bastiat, now over 150 year old, is still probably the best argument for limited government there is. The entire book is online.(36 pages, 1849) |
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The American Experiment in Anarcho-Capitalism: The Not so Wild, Wild, West by Terry Anderson and P.J. Hill |
In this article, Montana State University economists Terry Anderson and P. J. Hill argue that property rights were protected and civil order prevailed in the earliest settlements of the American West.(21 pages, 1980) |
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by Edward Stringham |
Pointing out that anarchy reigns in trade between nations, yet order exists and trade takes place because ordinary businesses acting in their own interests develop customary laws without the help of governments. In a particularly interesting section, Stringham also suggests that judges in a market-chosen regime need not make interpersonal utility comparisons as they decide cases. (25 pages, 1999) |
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Internal Inconsistencies in Arguments for Government: Nozick, Rand, Hospers by David Osterfeld |
Political Scientist, David Osterfeld takes on three of the most prominent minarchists of our time. He concludes that the only consistent positions on the matter are those of anarchism and totalitarianism. (10 pages, 1980) |
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A Note on Burke’s Vindication of the Natural Society
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Edmund Burke is well known
as the father of one of the versions of conservatism, but he is not generally
seen as an anarchist. However, in this review of Burke’s first published
work, Vindication of the Natural Society, Rothbard suggests that
Burke’s early work “was perhaps the first modern expression of rationalistic
and individualistic anarchism.”(6 pages, 1958) |
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Police, Courts, and Laws -- On the Market by David D. Friedman |
This is Chapter 29 of Friedman's much larger book The Machinery of Freedom. Friedman puts forth a utilitarian argument in favor of the private provision of traditionally governmental services. (6 pages, 1978) |
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Socialism, Limited Government, Anarchy, and Bikinis by David D. Friedman |
This is Chapter 33 of The Machinery of Freedom. (2 pages, 1978) |