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Anarchism : a very short introduction / Colin Ward.

By: Ward, ColinMaterial type: TextTextSeries: Very short introductions: 116.Publisher: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004Description: 109 p. : ill. ; 18 cmISBN: 0192804774 (pbk. : alk. paper); 9780192804778 (pbk. : alk. paper)Subject(s): Anarchism | Anarchism -- HistoryDDC classification: 335/.83 LOC classification: HX833 | .W36 2004
Contents:
Definitions and ancestors -- Revolutionary moments -- States, societies, and the collapse of socialism -- Deflating nationalism and fundamentalism -- Containing deviancy and liberating work -- Freedom in education -- The individualist response -- Quiet revolutions -- The federalist agenda -- Green aspirations and anarchist futures.
Summary: What do anarchists want? It seems easier to classify them by what they don't want, namely, the organizations of the State, and to identify them with rioting and protest rather than with any coherent ideology. But with demonstrations like those against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund being blamed on anarchists, it is clear that an explanation of what they do stand for is long overdue. Colin Ward provides answers to these questions by considering anarchism from a variety of perspectives: theoretical, historical, and international, and by exploring key anarchist thinkers, from Kropotkin through to Chomsky. He looks critically at anarchism by evaluating key ideas within it, such as its blanket opposition to incarceration, and policy of 'no compromise' with the apparatus of political decision-making. Can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is it more 'organized' and 'reasonable' than is currently perceived? Whatever the politics of the reader, Ward's argument ensures that anarchism will be much better understood after experiencing this book.
List(s) this item appears in: Very Short Introductions
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Book University of Texas At Tyler
Stacks - 3rd Floor 		HX833 .W36 2004 (Browse shelf) Available 0000002149334

Includes bibliographical references (p. 106) and index.

Definitions and ancestors -- Revolutionary moments -- States, societies, and the collapse of socialism -- Deflating nationalism and fundamentalism -- Containing deviancy and liberating work -- Freedom in education -- The individualist response -- Quiet revolutions -- The federalist agenda -- Green aspirations and anarchist futures.

What do anarchists want? It seems easier to classify them by what they don't want, namely, the organizations of the State, and to identify them with rioting and protest rather than with any coherent ideology. But with demonstrations like those against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund being blamed on anarchists, it is clear that an explanation of what they do stand for is long overdue. Colin Ward provides answers to these questions by considering anarchism from a variety of perspectives: theoretical, historical, and international, and by exploring key anarchist thinkers, from Kropotkin through to Chomsky. He looks critically at anarchism by evaluating key ideas within it, such as its blanket opposition to incarceration, and policy of 'no compromise' with the apparatus of political decision-making. Can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is it more 'organized' and 'reasonable' than is currently perceived? Whatever the politics of the reader, Ward's argument ensures that anarchism will be much better understood after experiencing this book.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Colin Ward was Visiting Centennial Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and is the author of over thirty books on childhood, schooling and housing, town and country, transport and water. They include his much-translated Anarchy in Action (Freedom Press), and from FiveLeaves Books of Nottingham, Cotters and Squatters, and (with David Crouch) The Allotment: Its Landscape and Culture, as well as (with Dennis Hardy) Arcadia for All: The Legacy of a Makeshift Landscape.

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