Voluntary community
Encyclopedia
A voluntary society, voluntary community or voluntary city is one in which all property (including streets, parks, etc.) and all services (including courts, police, etc.) are provided through voluntary means, such as private or cooperative ownership. In a voluntary society, the notion of something being "privately" or "cooperatively" owned would be radically different than monopolistic "privatization" with state subsidies, or monopolistic control of public resources by the state, respectively. Instead, courts might be replaced with dispute resolution organization
s; police with volunteer-based community defense organizations or private security agencies and crime insurers; transportation authorities with community road associations and rail counterparts; etc. These services were the subject of the book, The Voluntary City
, which dealt with them chapter-by-chapter.
Anarcho-capitalists as well as anti-capitalist market anarchists view voluntary societies as the solution to the conflict between those who favor government allowing behaviors and arrangements such as non-violent drug use, free stores, sexual liberation, voluntary communal sharing (e.g. Food Not Bombs
), etc., and those who favor government restrictions on such activities. Those who want to live under a certain code of conduct can move to a community that supports and protects it. Anarcho-capitalist
activist Stefan Molyneux
of Freedomain Radio suggested that in a voluntary society, dispute resolution organizations would prevent problems such as pollution.
Dispute resolution organization
A dispute resolution organization, or DRO, is a conceptualized organization providing services such as mediation and arbitration through the private sector. It is an important aspect of anarcho-capitalist theory.-Enforceability of verdicts:...
s; police with volunteer-based community defense organizations or private security agencies and crime insurers; transportation authorities with community road associations and rail counterparts; etc. These services were the subject of the book, The Voluntary City
The Voluntary City
The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society is an Independent Institute-published book, edited by David T. Beito, about communities with private provision of municipal services. Contributors include Stephen Davies, Daniel Klein, Robert C. Arne, Bruce L. Benson, David G. Green, James...
, which dealt with them chapter-by-chapter.
Anarcho-capitalists as well as anti-capitalist market anarchists view voluntary societies as the solution to the conflict between those who favor government allowing behaviors and arrangements such as non-violent drug use, free stores, sexual liberation, voluntary communal sharing (e.g. Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs
Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, serving free vegan and vegetarian food to others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that myriad corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance...
), etc., and those who favor government restrictions on such activities. Those who want to live under a certain code of conduct can move to a community that supports and protects it. Anarcho-capitalist
Anarcho-capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...
activist Stefan Molyneux
Stefan Molyneux
Stefan Basil Molyneux is a blogger, essayist, author, and host of the Freedomain Radio series of podcasts, living in Mississauga, Canada...
of Freedomain Radio suggested that in a voluntary society, dispute resolution organizations would prevent problems such as pollution.
See also
- Free societyFree societyIn a theoretical free society, all individuals act voluntarily. Individuals in a free society find it safe to be unpopular. This can be elaborated in terms of freedom of speech - if people have a right to express their views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm.In a free society,...
- Intentional communityIntentional communityAn intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
- Private communityPrivate communityA private community is a residential community that can be an association or a proprietary organization. Associations can include condominiums, homeowner associations or cooperatives....
- Gated communityGated communityIn its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
- Homeowners associationHomeowners associationA homeowner association is a corporation formed by a real estate developer for the purpose of marketing, managing, and selling of homes and lots in a residential subdivision...
- Planned communityPlanned communityA planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since...
- Private placePrivate placeA private place is a self-governing enclave whose common areas are owned by the residents, and whose services are provided by the private sector....
- Spencer HeathSpencer HeathSpencer Heath was an American engineer, attorney, inventor, manufacturer, horticulturist, poet, philosopher of science and social thinker. An anarchist and a dissenter from Georgist economic views, he pioneered the theory of proprietary governance and community in his book Citadel, Market and Altar...
- Stateless societyStateless societyA stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through...
- VoluntaryismVoluntaryismVoluntarism, or voluntaryism, is a philosophy according to which all forms of human association should be voluntary. This moral principle is called the non-aggression principle, which prohibits the initiation of aggressive force or coercion...
External links
- The Voluntary Society
- Spencer H. MacCallumSpencer MacCallumSpencer Heath McCallum , commonly known as Spencer MacCallum, is an American anthropologist, business consultant and libertarian anarchist author...
: "Suburban Democracy vs. Residential Community". Critical Review, Vol 17, Nos. 3-4, 2006. - Spencer H. MacCallum: "The Enterprise of Community: Market Competition, Land, and Environment", Journal of Libertarian Studies, Volume 17, no. 4, Fall 2003, 1-16, published by Ludwig von Mises InstituteLudwig von Mises InstituteThe Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...
, Slightly amended by the author, June 2004. - Georg Glasze, Chris Webster, Klaus Frantz, Private Cities, RoutledgeRoutledgeRoutledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
, 2006.