The Anarchist Turn

Book excerpt: The concept of anarchy is often presented as a recipe for pure disorder. The Anarchist Turn brings together innovative and fresh perspectives on anarchism to argue that in fact it represents a form of collective, truly democratic social organization. The book shows how in the last decade the negative caricature of anarchy has begun to crack. Globalization and the social movements it spawned have proved what anarchists have long been advocating: an anarchical order is not just desirable, but also feasible. The contributors, including leading anarchist and critical theorists, argue that with the failure of both free-markets and state socialism the time has come for an "anarchist turn" in political philosophy. In doing so they relate the anarchist hypothesis to a range of other disciplines such as politics, anthropology, economics, history and sociology.