People Without Government: An Anthropology of AnarchyAnarchy, as the absence of government, is neither chaos nor some impossible Utopian dream. In fact it is a very common form of political organisation and one which has characterised much of the human past. People Without Government describes briefly the anarchic political structures of a number of these societies. True they are mainly small-scale hunting, gathering and horticultural groups. However, the social organisation of certain large populations with complex relations is also sometimes anarchic. Thus anarchy applies to a broad spectrum of different kinds of societies. |
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African age grades agricultural Anabaptist anarchic polities anarchist communal anarchist theory Anthropology Anuak associations Australian authority Bakunin band become cattle centralised characteristics clan Clastres collective complex conflict consensus cultural decentralised democracy depend diffuse sanctions disputes economic egalitarian elders enforce equal example feud force freedom governmental Guinea headman human hunter-gatherers hunters hunting-gathering Hutterite Iceland Ifugao Imazighen important Indians individuals intentional community Inuit invariably Josiah Warren Kabyle kind kinship Konkomba Kropotkin labour leaders leadership legal sanctions leopard skin chief Lugbara Makhno male matrilineal mediator medieval membership movement mutual aid Nuer ordinarily pastoral person Pierre Clastres political population position Proudhon punishment Pygmies reciprocity recognised relations relationship religious sanctions ritual role rule ruler Samek Santal segmentary lineage segments shaman social order social organisation society specialists stateless structure supernatural technique territory Tonga traditional tribal tribe village violence voluntary co-operation wealth Yurok