anarchies

Noun

anarchy (countable and uncountable, plural anarchies)

1. (uncountable) The state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.
   • La propriété et la royauté sont en démolition dès le commencement du monde ; comme l’homme cherche la justice dans l’égalité, la société cherche l’ordre dans l’anarchie.
     Anarchie, absence de maître, de souverain, telle est la forme de gouvernement dont nous approchons tous les jours, et que...1849 [1840], Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, “Chapitre V. Second Partie. § 2.”, in Qu’est ce que la propriété?, page 242; English translation from “Chapter V. Part Second. § 2.”, in Benjamin Tucker, transl....
2. (rare, uncountable) The political theory that a community is best organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.
   • Своею полемикою против них мы довели их до сознания, что свобода или анархия, т. е. вольная организация ра­бочих масс снизу вверх, есть окончательная цель общественного развития, и что всякое государство, не исключая и их народного, есть ярмо, значит с одной стороны порождает деспотизм, а с другой...1919 [1873], Михаил Бакунин [Mikhail Bakunin], Государственность и aнархия (Избранные сочинения М. А. Бакунина в 5-ти томах; 1), page 296; English translation from chapter VII, in Marshall S. Shatz...

   Synonyms:

   anarchism

3. (countable) A chaotic and confusing absence of any form of political authority or government.
   • And each dweller, panic-stricken,
     Felt his heart with terror sicken
     Hearing the tempestuous cry
     Of the triumph of Anarchy.1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC
4. Confusion in general; disorder.
   • It was total anarchy in the clothes shop on Black Friday as soon as they opened the doors.