Anarchy V. Authoritarianism

When contrasting any two words one must first investigate the meaning and origin of each, and secondly how they apply to our everyday use and concept of them. Many words don't only contrast in their meaning, but also in their origins and actions they entail in modern and past societies. The words anarchism and authoritarianism are two words that have been at war with each other since the beginning civilization, words that are the walls in which our civilization and society exists. Every form of government, lifestyle, parenting method, style of thought, etc. is somewhere between the boundaries of anarchism and authoritarianism. These words are the boundaries by which we choose live our lives on this Earth, from birth till death. Somewhere in between these two words exists society as we know it today.

Anarchism is defined by The American Heritage College Dictionary as "The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are unnecessary, oppressive, and undesirable and should be abolished" and The American Heritage Dictionary even goes as far as to include in the definition "terrorism against the state." To put it simply, anarchism is the theory that all forms of government are oppressive and should be abolished resulting in a society within which individuals freely co-operate together as equals. There are many branches within Anarchism just as there are to any political theory or religion, a few of them being mutualism, collectivist anarchism, individualist anarchism, anarchist communism, anarcho-syndicalism, green anarchism, and although many don't consider in a form of anarchism, anarcho-capitalism. Although anarchism has only existed as a political theory (or as some might say lack of one) since the enlightenment movement, it has in effect been around since the beginning of human history, just without a specific label. It is correct to say that as humans have progressed through time, they have made the move from anarchism towards authoritarianism. In the beginning humans were all considered equal to one another, just as animals are equal to one another, and lived and operated in tribes where everyone had an incentive to do a certain job, that incentive being to ensure the survival of the tribe. This could be considered anarchism in its purest form when looking back at human history. The reason being that humans were under no form of government or sovereign at this time in our history, and instead operated as equals in a state of nature.

In contrast to anarchism and anarchists (those who follow anarchism), authoritarianism and authoritarians (those who follow authoritarianism) are defined by The American Heritage Dictionary as being "Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority, as against individual freedom" and "Of, relating to, or expecting unquestioning obedience." When looking at both, authoritarianism has been around a much shorter time then anarchism has been. Looking back at the beginnings of human civilization, authoritarianism did not exist until someone rose up within the anarchist tribes that humans originally lived in and attempted to rule them without their consent or approval. From there, authoritarianism branched mainly into monarchies that existed throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa for thousands of years. Within these monarchies, kings and queens were born into positions of absolute power over a region and its people: these were the first authoritarians.

While looking at the history of Anarchism and Authoritarianism, it is important to note that while humans began completely on the anarchist side of the spectrum I explained in the introduction, they slowly progressed after thousands of years to a more authoritarian state with kings and queens ruling over them. This is comparable to the political views of a child from when it is born to when it matures. In modern society when one is born into the world one is, by nature, an anarchist and follows no laws or government being that one is not aware of their existence. As a human develops, they are taught that a sovereign rules over them and they are required to submit and follow those laws or face the consequences. Going back to history, it is also important to point out that humans have existed in a tribal state without authoritarian leaders from over 2 million years B.C. to 3000 years B.C. The first civilizations emerge around 3000 years B.C. in Sumer when Sumerian city-states begin to develop followed by the Egyptians in 2700 years B.C. and the Greeks in 750 years B.C. That is to say authoritarianism is a very young concept compared to anarchism being that it has only really existed since 3000 years B.C. whereas anarchism has existed since 2 million years B.C. in hunter-gatherer tribes throughout the world.

After the transformation from an anarchistic to authoritarian-like society occurred, humans were relatively happy with the change and committed very few open acts of rebellion against authoritarian kings or queens. This is proven by the fact that until the age of enlightenment, there were few rebellions or coups that resulted in the complete removal of a sovereign (noting that rebellions that merely replace one sovereign with another do not count as an anarchistic rebellion). During the age of enlightenment, philosophers such as Rousseau, Paine, Locke, Hobbes, and Godwin began formulating political philosophies challenging the authority of church