Non-core Political Ideas - Key Terminology

Question 1

Alturism

Answer 1

Focused on part of human nature that leads individuals to care for others and act in their interests.

Question 2

Authority

Answer 2

The term is related to government and the state. Authority is the right to exercise the power granted to the state and government to carry out its duties. Anarchists view the authority exercised by the state as coercive, as individuals should be free to exercise authority over themselves.

Question 3

Autonomy

Answer 3

Represents the absence of artificial external constraints, though not necesssarily the absence of internal restraints. All anarchists believe that humankind should be able to exercise autonomy.

Question 4

Direct action

Answer 4

Individuals taking proactive steps to undermine and ultimately destroy the state. Such methods include violence, civil disobedience and propaganda. Of the key thinkers, only Proudhon thought it could be achieve via peaceful means.

Question 5

Government

Answer 5

The name of the body that controls the state. Governments can be a traditional monarchy, a dictatorship or a democracy. Anarchists view all forms of government as corrupt, to differing degrees, and believe that governing corrupts those who govern. Government denies individual autonomy.

Question 6

Power

Answer 6

Anarchists argue that the exercise of power by one person over another is unacceptable. The state uses its position to exploit individuals ad this should be resisted. Anarchists believe individuals should be free to exercise power over themselves.

Question 7

Direct democracy

Answer 7

A system of government where the people make key decisions on behalf of the community. A decentralised process organised by small-scale communities and not the state.

Question 8

Mutualism

Answer 8

Associated with Proudhon, the concept of an independent association of workers cooperating and trading with each other on mutually beneficial terms.

Question 9

Solidarity

Answer 9

A feeling of common harmony and cohesion among individuals, leading them to form mutually beneficial communities and to have a communal empathy. Anarchists such as Kropotkin believe this is the natural state of the human race.

Question 10

Syndicalism

Answer 10

A revolutionary version of trade unionism that proposes a stateless society where workers are grouped into syndicates, based on industrial occupation, which cooperate freely with each other for mutual benefit.

Question 11

Collectivisation

Answer 11

The organisation of peasents into large production units where there is no private property. Individuals produce goods collectively and equally share the rewards for their labour.

Question 12

Insurrection

Answer 12

A term used by revolutionaries to describe direct action. It can be violent or a form of passive resistance.

Question 13

Mutual aid

Answer 13

A term used by many anarchists to mean that communities should cooperate with each other, largely in terms of trade, on mutually beneficial terms rather than through a free-market mechanism.