A Rothbardian critique of Cuzán and Ostrowski and a Typology of Anarchy

My paper “A Rothbardian critique of Cuzán and Ostrowski and a Typology of Anarchy”, has been posted in the Mises Institute Working Papers.

Here’s the abstract:

With his 1979 article “Do we really ever get out of anarchy?” Alfred Cuzán provides us with a wonderful insight: “Anarchy, like matter, never disappears - it only changes form.” Cuzán argues that anarchy, defined as the absence of a third party territorial monopolist of ultimate jurisdiction, is omnipresent: Regardless of what political system we live under, there will always be anarchic relationships, namely those between the actual members of government. James Ostrowski, in his article “The Myth of Democratic Peace”, extends this argument to show that there are four more anarchic relationships in current society. The omnipresence of anarchy is undeniable. However, there are problems with this analysis. It is not compatible with the root word definition of anarchy as “no rulers”, nor does it incorporate such governmental (non-anarchic) relationships as taxation and regulation. Happily, the analysis can be repaired by applying Murray Rothbard’s “typology of intervention” and creating a corresponding “typology of anarchy”.

My plan is to have this published in the Journal of Libertarian Studies. Academia, here I come!

Links don’t work but you can find them on his blog.

Just read it. Fantastic Paper!

The idea of TG existing between government and citizen initially made me think of a world of government. But then I realized that juries act, in theory at least, as a third party between the government and citizen. You’d have to call it a TA relationship though, as juries don’t actually enforce their decisions.

Despite not having read “Power & Market” (yet; should probably start it after reading your paper), I felt I like I instantly got this.

Excellent indeed.

Revisiting “Do we ever really get out of anarchy?” - Cuzan

Congratulations, well done.