To What Extent Do Anarchists Agree About the Nature of the Future Stateless Society?

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To what extent do anarchists agree about the nature of the future stateless society? For Anarchists the state is oppressive and represents the few who seek to oppress the many. The state is also charged with taking away our freedom through subjecting us to its laws and controls that are artificial, offending the basic principle of individual sovereignty. Furthermore the state is seen as corrupting to those in power, those who come into government may do so with good motives, but inevitably lose their idealism and become exploiters themselves. It is for these reasons that all traditions within Anarchism wish to advance human kind through the removal of the state in society. Anarchists agree that there will be a natural order, no authority and a free market. However, there is a clear divide between individualist and collectivist anarchists with regard to the social arrangements and the economy and how it should be run. Anarchists are united in their belief that natural order will arise in a future stateless society. This stems from their Utopian view of human nature which argues that people cannot flourish under a state and will only reach their full potential when they are free from religious authority and power. “Negation of the principle of authority” – Faure. The free market is the most desirable type of economy to have because it is the most efficient and is self regulating without state interference. However, it is based on this that the anarchist tradition can broadly be split into collectivists and individualists. Within both of these forms of anarchism there are a number of different visions on how a future stateless society would operate. Collectivist anarchists generally envisage a future society that will be based upon co-operation, common property, communal organisation and decentralisation. Whilst Individualist anarchists, on the other hand,
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