Political Theory

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

Jon Irenicus — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:51:03 GMT

He's giving some historical context of what was considered wealth back then, not saying these societies were wealthy because they held slaves...

-Jon

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

Juan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:00:09 GMT

They are only rough examples of polycentric legal systems and should not be regarded as models for a contemporary anarchist society.

Were they really 'polycentric' ? Or rather some sort of 'anarcho-conservative' or feudal system ? Was the NAP the law of the land ? I don't think that classifying ancient Ireland as a working anarchist society really helps our argument...

As to saying that these societies were 'wealthy' because slave-owners had a lot of slaves, that's got to be a joke, right Stranger ?

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

Brainpolice — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:01:19 GMT

I think that it's a bit fallacious to be pointing to these pre-industrial societies as examples of market anarchism. They are only rough examples of polycentric legal systems and should not be regaurded as models for a contemporary anarchist society. I know that many ancaps make use of them, but I don't think that they are pure examples of anarchism, nor do I think that they should be heavily relied on. While the past can be looked to for some insight, I don't want to end up defending vikings as an argument for a free society.

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

Juan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:13:02 GMT

What's that supposed to mean ?

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

Stranger — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:37:08 GMT

fakename:

If anarcho-capitalism is the key to wealth, and iceland and ireland were anarcho-capitalist, then why were they not known for being extremely wealthy?

Barren islands with little access to world markets.

Keep in mind that at the standards of the time being wealthy meant owning a lot of people.

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

kingmonkey — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:06:53 GMT

They lacked the capital goods and market to create wealth. They were agricultural subsistance farmers.

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

Solid_Choke — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:51:47 GMT

fakename:

If anarcho-capitalism is the key to wealth, and iceland and ireland were anarcho-capitalist, then why were they not known for being extremely wealthy?

Check the rate of growth during the time they were supposedly ancap societies and compare that growth rate to other societies around the same time. The U.S.S.R. used to be a socialist country, but if you want to see how effective socialism is you wouldn't just observe the same place today. You would compare it when it was socialist to other countries under different systems during the same time period.

Re: on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

MatthewM — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 07:32:36 GMT

Neither Ireland or Iceland are anarcho-capatalistic societies. So your point is moot.

on iceland, ireland, and anarcho-capitalism

fakename — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:40:33 GMT

If anarcho-capitalism is the key to wealth, and iceland and ireland were anarcho-capitalist, then why were they not known for being extremely wealthy?