anarchy

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....
   • Oui, l’anarchie c’est l'ordre; car, le gouvernement c’est la guerre civile.2002 [1850], Anselme Bellegarrigue, “Manifeste de l’Anarchie [Anarchist Manifesto]”, in Paul Sharkey, transl., L'anarchie, Journal de l'Ordre [Anarchy, a Journal of Order], number 1, translation of...
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...
   • Libertarianism is the view that each man is the absolute owner of his life, to use and dispose of as he sees fit: that all man's social actions should be voluntary: and that respect for every other man's similar and equal ownership of life and, by extension, the property and fruits of that life, is...1969 March, Karl Hess, “The Death of Politics”, in PlayBoy

   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
   • Anarchy still reigns in this new country;—not only have the miners to defend their persons and their acquisitions against the incursions from Indian tribes; not only are crimes and offences common (lynch law maintaining a permitted existence instead of laws and police); but every one appears to...1853, Leon Faucher, “IV.”, in Thomson Hankey, transl., Remarks on the Production of the Precious Metals, and on the Demonetization of Gold in Several Countries in Europe, 2nd revised edition, London...
4. Confusion in general; disorder.
   • It was total anarchy in the clothes shop on Black Friday as soon as they opened the doors.
   • Der Widerspruch zwischen gesellschaftlicher Produktion und kapitalistischer Aneignung stellt sich nun dar als Gegensatz zwischen der Organisation der Produktion in der einzelnen Fabrik und der Anarchie der Produktion in der ganzen Gesellschaft.1907 [1883], Friedrich Engels, chapter III, in Edward Aveling, transl., Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, translation of Die Entwicklung des Sozialismus von der Utopie zur Wissenschaft (in German)...