Anthropologies of Revolution

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Anthropologies of Revolution ANTHROPOLOGY CHERSTICH WHAT CAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL THINKING contribute to the study of revo- lutions? The fi rst book-length anthropological approach to revolutions, Anthro- pologies of Revolution proposes that revolutions should be seen as concerted | attempts to radically reconstitute the worlds people inhabit. Viewing revolu- HOLBRAAD tions as all-embracing, world-creating projects, the authors ask readers to move beyond the idea of revolutions as acts of violent political rupture, and instead regard them as processes of societal transformation that penetrate deeply into the fabric of people’s lives, unfolding and refolding the coordinates of human existence. | TASSI “With insightful references to cases around the world, this book advances a brilliant holistic theory that offers credibility and signifi cance to the ways revo- lutions unfold in culturally specifi c practices without diminishing their political impact and universal aspirations.” ANTHROPOLOGIES Behrooz Ghamari-Tabrizi, author of Foucault in Iran: Islamic Revolution after the ANTHROPOLOGIES OF Enlightenment “This fascinating volume opens up new horizons in the study of revolutionary practice. It is diffi cult to imagine a more important or original work.” David Nugent, author of The Encrypted State: Delusion and Displacement in the Peruvian Andes REVOLUTION “This book is a truly original (in all senses of the term) contribution to under- Forging Time, People, and Worlds standing the global and human condition of far-reaching political, social, and cosmological change.” Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, author of Violent Becomings: State Formation, Sociality, OF and Power in Mozambique IGOR CHERSTICH REVOLUTION Igor Cherstich is Teaching Fellow in Social Anthropology at University College London. He is coeditor of the special issue “The Multiple Narratives of the Lib- MARTIN HOLBRAAD yan Revolution,” Middle East Critique. Martin Holbraad is Professor of Social Anthropology at University College Lon- NICO TASSI don. He is author of Truth in Motion: The Recursive Anthropology of Cuban Div- ination and coauthor of The Ontological Turn: An Anthropological Exposition. Nico Tassi is Research Associate at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz, Bolivia, and author of The Native World System: An Ethnography of Boliv- ian Aymara Traders in the Global Economy. University of California Press www.ucpress.edu A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program for monographs. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Cover design: Glynnis Koike. Cover illustration: © strizh/iStock Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org Anthropologies of Revolution Anthropologies of Revolution Forging Time, People, and Worlds Igor Cherstich, Martin Holbraad, and Nico Tassi UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS University of California Press Oakland, California © 2020 by Igor Cherstich, Martin Holbraad, Nico Tassi This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress. Suggested citation: Cherstich, I., Holbraad, M. and Tassi, N. Anthropologies of Revolution: Forging Time, People, and Worlds. Oakland: University of California Press, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.89 ISBN 978–0–520–34379–5 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978–0–520–97516–3 (ebook) 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction. Multiplying Revolutions 1 Chapter 1. Revolution as Event: Ritual, Violence, and Transformation 18 Chapter 2. State and Revolution: Nations, Tribes, and Lineages 41 Chapter 3. The Revolutionary Person: Penitence, Sacrifice, and the New Man 66 Chapter 4. The Revolutionary Leader: Charisma, Authority, and Exception 94 Chapter 5. Revolution and Ideology: Truth, Lies, and Mediation 113 Chapter 6. Revolutionary Cosmologies: Spirits, Myths, Worlds 134 Conclusion. Worlds in Revolution 155 References 171 Index 197 Acknowledgments This book is the outcome of “Comparative Anthropology of Revolutionary Politics” (CARP), a five-year research project dedicated to developing a distinc- tively anthropological understanding of revolutions. The project was funded by a Consolidator grant of the European Research Council (ERC-2013-CoG, 617970, CARP) and led by Martin Holbraad at University College London from 2014 to 2019. For catalytic discussions on the anthropology of revolutions dur- ing the early stages of the book’s development, we wish to thank Narges Ansari, Myriam Lamrani, and Charlotte Loris-Rodionoff, who were members of the project’s core research team alongside the three of us. For illuminating discus- sions at various stages of the book’s development, as well as for advice on rel- evant literature, we thank David Burrows, María Elena Canedo, David Cooper, Alice Elliot, Dan Hirslund, Caroline Humphrey, Bruce Kapferer, Nicola Miller, Morten Axel Pedersen, Mike Rowlands, Joseph Trapido, Kaya Üzel, and (par- ticularly!) Lucia Michelutti. We are grateful to Pascale Searle and Suzanne Petrou for their dedicated administrative support throughout the project, and appreci- ate Michael Brown, Giles Machell, and Jen Morgan at UCL’s EU Grants Office, Martin O’Connor, Paul Carter Bowman, and Rikke Osterlund at the Department of Anthropology, and Susanne Kuechler as Head of Department, for provid- ing the basic administrative and institutional structures on which projects such as this depend. We are enormously grateful to our undergraduate and masters’ students in the course “Social Forms of Revolution,” which we designed and taught together at UCL in 2016, and Cherstich continued to teach on his own in 2017 and 2018. The students’ thoughts and comments during lectures and tutorials have been a con- stant point of reference for us in the writing of the book, the chapters of which vii viii Acknowledgments are based on our lectures for the course. Some of the material that features in the chapters was also presented during the following conferences, workshops, and exhibitions: “Comparative Anthropologies of Revolutionary Politics” (UCL, London, 2014); “How Goes It with the New Man? A Comparative Approach to Revolutionary Subjectivity” (Cuban Institute of Philosophy, Havana, 2015); “The Revolutionary Process in Bolivia: A Comparative Approach” (Vicepresidencia del Estado, La Paz, 2016); “Morphologies of Invisible Agents” (Space Gallery, London, 2019); and “After the Event—Prospects and Retrospects of Revolution” (UCL, London, 2019). We thank those who helped to organize these events and also thank the participants for their contributions, and not least the personnel of the Centro de Investigación Social of La Paz as well as colleagues at the Instituto de Filosofia in Havana. We also give thanks to Hera Karagianni, Nikos Giannakakis, and particularly Panos Giannakakis (and Iris!) for their hospitality during a two- week writing retreat in their house in Mount Pelion in June 2018. Kate Marshall at UCP has expertly guided this book to publication, and we are grateful also to the press’s two reviewers for their detailed and insightful comments on the manuscript. Finally, our gratitude goes out to our families in Bolivia, Italy, and the United Kingdom for their support. Introduction Multiplying Revolutions NOT MISSING THE REVOLUTION In his provocative 1991 article “Missing the Revolution,” American anthropologist Orin Starn admonishes anthropologists of Peru for having allowed the insurgency of the Shining Path—the Maoist group whose violent revolutionary campaign dominated life in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s—to take them completely by sur- prise. Hundreds of ethnographers had been conducting research in the Andes throughout the 1970s, often in the very parts of rural Peru where the Shining Path’s uprising made its deepest inroads. Yet in their writings, Starn complains, they remained oblivious not only to the popular ferment that led up to the Shining Path’s campaign from 1980 onward but also to the socioeconomic conditions that contributed to it. Little or no attention was paid to the developing impoverish- ment of the countryside and the unrest it produced, while the dynamics of inter- nal migration that had created the pool of mobile youths from which the Shining Path drew its cadres also went unnoticed. Rather, anthropologists working there at the time stayed within the narrow confines of what Starn disparagingly calls “Andeanism,” portraying peasant life as somehow immune to the flow of history, and focusing instead on such exotic and apolitical topics as environmental adapta- tion, ritual, and cosmology (see also Starn 1995). Starn’s critique is relevant well beyond the case of Peru. To be sure, it would be wrong to contend that anthropologists have in general ignored the revolution- ary upheavals in their ethnographic midsts. As we shall explain in more detail 1 2 introduction presently, there are plenty of anthropological studies of revolution, including a number of substantial monographs, written by ethnographers who have been caught up in the action of revolutionary uprisings
Recommended publications
  • Fighting for France's Political Future in the Long Wake of the Commune, 1871-1880
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2013 Long Live the Revolutions: Fighting for France's Political Future in the Long Wake of the Commune, 1871-1880 Heather Marlene Bennett University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the European History Commons Recommended Citation Bennett, Heather Marlene, "Long Live the Revolutions: Fighting for France's Political Future in the Long Wake of the Commune, 1871-1880" (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 734. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/734 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/734 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Long Live the Revolutions: Fighting for France's Political Future in the Long Wake of the Commune, 1871-1880 Abstract The traumatic legacies of the Paris Commune and its harsh suppression in 1871 had a significant impact on the identities and voter outreach efforts of each of the chief political blocs of the 1870s. The political and cultural developments of this phenomenal decade, which is frequently mislabeled as calm and stable, established the Republic's longevity and set its character. Yet the Commune's legacies have never been comprehensively examined in a way that synthesizes their political and cultural effects. This dissertation offers a compelling perspective of the 1870s through qualitative and quantitative analyses of the influence of these legacies, using sources as diverse as parliamentary debates, visual media, and scribbled sedition on city walls, to explicate the decade's most important political and cultural moments, their origins, and their impact.
    [Show full text]
  • Mikhail Bakunin,А​Stateless Socialism: Anarchism
    Mikhail Bakunin, Stateless Socialism: Anarchism ​ Full Text at: theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/mikhail­bakunin Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (1814 – 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. In 1868, Bakunin ​ joined the International Working Men's Association, a federation of trade unions and workers' organizations, which had sections in many European countries, as well as in Latin America. His quarrel with Karl Marx split ​ the anarchist and Marxist wings of the revolutionary socialist movement. Socialism Is Justice. When we speak of justice, we understand thereby not the justice contained ​ in the Codes and in Roman jurisprudence ­ which were based to a great extent upon facts of violence achieved by force, violence consecrated by time and by the benedictions of some church or other (Christian or pagan), and as such accepted as absolute principles, from which all law is to be deduced by a process of logical reasoning ­ no, we speak of that justice which is based solely upon human conscience, the justice to be found in the consciousness of every man ­ even in that of children ­ and which can be expressed in a single word: equity. This universal justice which, owing to conquests by force and religious influences, has never yet prevailed in the political or juridical or economic worlds, should become the basis of the new world. Without it there can be neither liberty, nor republic, nor prosperity, nor peace. It then must govern our resolutions in order that we work effectively toward the establishment of peace. And this justice urges us to take upon ourselves the defense of the interests of the terribly maltreated people and demand their economic and social emancipation along with political freedom.
    [Show full text]
  • The Socialist Minority and the Paris Commune of 1871 a Unique Episode in the History of Class Struggles
    THE SOCIALIST MINORITY AND THE PARIS COMMUNE OF 1871 A UNIQUE EPISODE IN THE HISTORY OF CLASS STRUGGLES by PETER LEE THOMSON NICKEL B.A.(Honours), The University of British Columbia, 1999 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of History) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August 2001 © Peter Lee Thomson Nickel, 2001 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of Hi'sio*" y The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date AkgaS-f 30. ZOO I DE-6 (2/88) Abstract The Paris Commune of 1871 lasted only seventy-two days. Yet, hundreds of historians continue to revisit this complex event. The initial association of the 1871 Commune with the first modern socialist government in the world has fuelled enduring ideological debates. However, most historians past and present have fallen into the trap of assessing the Paris Commune by foreign ideological constructs. During the Cold War, leftist and conservative historians alike overlooked important socialist measures discussed and implemented by this first- ever predominantly working-class government.
    [Show full text]
  • The State and Revolution: Theory and Practice Contents
    The State and Revolution: Theory and Practice Iain McKay This is almost my chapter in the anthology Bloodstained: One Hundred Years of Leninist Counterrrevolution (Oakland/Edinburgh: AK Press, 2017). Some revisions were made during the editing process which are not included here. In addition, references to the 1913 French edition of Kropotkin’s Modern Science and Anarchy have been replaced with those from the 2018 English-language translation. However, the bulk of the text is the same, as is the message and its call to learn from history rather than repeat it. I would, of course, urge you to buy the book. Contents The State and Revolution: Theory and Practice ......................................................... 2 Theory .................................................................................................................... 2 The Paris Commune ........................................................................................... 4 Opportunism ....................................................................................................... 7 Anarchism ......................................................................................................... 10 Socialism ........................................................................................................... 18 The Party .......................................................................................................... 20 Practice ................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
    individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Socialism in Europe and the Russian Revolution India and the Contemporary World Society Ofthefuture
    Socialism in Europe and II the Russian Revolution Chapter 1 The Age of Social Change In the previous chapter you read about the powerful ideas of freedom and equality that circulated in Europe after the French Revolution. The French Revolution opened up the possibility of creating a dramatic change in the way in which society was structured. As you have read, before the eighteenth century society was broadly divided into estates and orders and it was the aristocracy and church which controlled economic and social power. Suddenly, after the revolution, it seemed possible to change this. In many parts of the world including Europe and Asia, new ideas about individual rights and who olution controlled social power began to be discussed. In India, Raja v Rammohan Roy and Derozio talked of the significance of the French Revolution, and many others debated the ideas of post-revolutionary Europe. The developments in the colonies, in turn, reshaped these ideas of societal change. ian Re ss Not everyone in Europe, however, wanted a complete transformation of society. Responses varied from those who accepted that some change was necessary but wished for a gradual shift, to those who wanted to restructure society radically. Some were ‘conservatives’, others were ‘liberals’ or ‘radicals’. What did these terms really mean in the context of the time? What separated these strands of politics and what linked them together? We must remember that these terms do not mean the same thing in all contexts or at all times. We will look briefly at some of the important political traditions of the nineteenth century, and see how they influenced change.
    [Show full text]
  • The Italians and the Iwma
    chapter �3 The Italians and the iwma Carl Levy Introduction Italians played a significant and multi-dimensional role in the birth, evolution and death of the First International, and indeed in its multifarious afterlives: the International Working Men's Association (iwma) has also served as a milestone or foundation event for histories of Italian anarchism, syndicalism, socialism and communism.1 The Italian presence was felt simultaneously at the national, international and transnational levels from 1864 onwards. In this chapter I will first present a brief synoptic overview of the history of the iwma (in its varied forms) in Italy and abroad from 1864 to 1881. I will then exam- ine interpretations of aspects of Italian Internationalism: Mazzinian Repub- licanism and the origins of anarchism, the Italians, Bakunin and interactions with Marx and his ideas, the theory and practice of propaganda by the deed and the rise of a third-way socialism neither fully reformist nor revolutionary, neither Marxist nor anarchist. This chapter will also include some brief words on the sociology and geography of Italian Internationalism and a discussion of newer approaches that transcend the rather stale polemics between parti- sans of a Marxist or anarchist reading of Italian Internationalism and incorpo- rates themes that have enlivened the study of the Risorgimento, namely, State responses to the International, the role of transnationalism, romanticism, 1 The best overviews of the iwma in Italy are: Pier Carlo Masini, La Federazione Italiana dell’Associazione Internazionale dei Lavoratori. Atti ufficiali 1871–1880 (atti congressuali; indirizzi, proclaim, manifesti) (Milan, 1966); Pier Carlo Masini, Storia degli Anarchici Ital- iani da Bakunin a Malatesta, (Milan, (1969) 1974); Nunzio Pernicone, Italian Anarchism 1864–1892 (Princeton, 1993); Renato Zangheri, Storia del socialismo italiano.
    [Show full text]
  • Debating Power and Revolution in Anarchism, Black Flame and Historical Marxism 1
    Detailed reply to International Socialism: debating power and revolution in anarchism, Black Flame and 1 historical Marxism 7 April 2011 Source: http://lucienvanderwalt.blogspot.com/2011/02/anarchism-black-flame-marxism-and- ist.html Lucien van der Walt, Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, [email protected] **This paper substantially expands arguments I published as “Counterpower, Participatory Democracy, Revolutionary Defence: debating Black Flame, revolutionary anarchism and historical Marxism,” International Socialism: a quarterly journal of socialist theory, no. 130, pp. 193-207. http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=729&issue=130 The growth of a significant anarchist and syndicalist2 presence in unions, in the larger anti-capitalist milieu, and in semi-industrial countries, has increasingly drawn the attention of the Marxist press. International Socialism carried several interesting pieces on the subject in 2010: Paul Blackledge’s “Marxism and Anarchism” (issue 125), Ian Birchall’s “Another Side of Anarchism” (issue 127), and Leo Zeilig’s review of Michael Schmidt and my book Black Flame: the revolutionary class politics of anarchism and syndicalism (also issue 127).3 In Black Flame, besides 1 I would like to thank Shawn Hattingh, Ian Bekker, Iain McKay and Wayne Price for feedback on an earlier draft. 2 I use the term “syndicalist” in its correct (as opposed to its pejorative) sense to refer to the revolutionary trade unionism that seeks to combine daily struggles with a revolutionary project i.e., in which unions are to play a decisive role in the overthrow of capitalism and the state by organizing the seizure and self-management of the means of production.
    [Show full text]
  • 2.4 the Fourth World War: the EZLN Analysis of Neoliberalism
    We Are from Before, Yes, but We Are New: Autonomy, Territory, and the Production of New Subjects of Self-government in Zapatismo by Mara Catherine Kaufman Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Orin Starn, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Charles Piot, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Anne Allison ___________________________ Kathi Weeks ___________________________ Michael Hardt Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 ABSTRACT We Are from Before, Yes, but We Are New: Autonomy, Territory, and the Production of New Subjects of Self-government in Zapatismo by Mara Catherine Kaufman Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Orin Starn, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Charles Piot, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Anne Allison ___________________________ Kathi Weeks ___________________________ Michael Hardt An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2010 Copyright by Mara Catherine Kaufman 2010 Abstract The 1994 Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, created a rupture with a series of neoliberal policies implemented in Mexico and on a global scale over the last few decades of the 20th century. In a moment when alternatives to neoliberal global capitalism appeared to have disappeared from the world stage, the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) initiated a movement and process that would have significance not only in Chiapas and for Mexico, but for many struggles and movements around the world that would come to identify with a kind of “alter-globalization” project.
    [Show full text]
  • Mutualism As Market Practice: an Examination of Market Performativity in the Context of Anarchism and Its Implications for Post-Capitalist Politics
    Mutualism as market practice: An examination of market performativity in the context of anarchism and its implications for post-capitalist politics Lloveras, J., Warnaby, G. & Quinn, L. Author post-print (accepted) deposited by Coventry University’s Repository Original citation & hyperlink: Lloveras, J, Warnaby, G & Quinn, L 2019, 'Mutualism as market practice: An examination of market performativity in the context of anarchism and its implications for post-capitalist politics' Marketing Theory, vol. (In-Press), pp. (In-Press). https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1470593119885172 DOI 10.1177/1470593119885172 ISSN 1470-5931 ESSN 1741-301X Publisher: SAGE Publications Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. Mutualism as market practice: An examination of market performativity in the context of anarchism and its implications for post-capitalist politics Javier Lloveras (Faculty of Business and Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) Gary Warnaby (Faculty of Business and Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) Lee Quinn (Faculty Research Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University, UK) Javier Lloveras is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour based at the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, where he is affiliated to the Business Transformations Research Center and the Institute of Place Management.
    [Show full text]
  • Bakunin, Mikhail, 1814-1876.Pdf
    Bakunin, Mikhail, 1814-1876 A short biography of Russian anarchist, often described as the founding father of collectivist anarchism, Mikhail Bakunin. Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin Born May 18 (May 30 OS), 1814 Pryamukhino, Russia – died June 13, 1876 Bern, Switzerland. The anarchist movement throws up many men and women, who become famous because of their actions, ideas and writings. Perhaps the best known of them all was the Russian anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin. Anarchists do not have god-like leaders, nor all-knowing prophets. Nobody gets it right all the time and nobody is above criticism. Whoever does not make mistakes is either (a) not human, or (b) someone who never does anything at all. It is possible to take inspiration from the actions and ideas of others without falling into the trap of uncritical hero-worship. First steps to freedom Born in 1814 in Tsarist Russia, Bakunin quickly developed a burning hatred of injustice. At age 21, after a couple of years in uniform, he resigned from the army and began to mix in democratic circles. Nine years later he met up with radicals like Proudhon and Marx in Paris. By this stage he had formulated a theory which saw freedom being achieved by a general rising, linked to revolutions in the subject nations. His passionate campaigning for democracy and anti-colonialism made him 'public enemy number one' in the eyes of most European monarchies. In 1848 he was expelled from France for making a speech in support of independence for Poland. His passion for liberty and equality, and his condemnations of privilege and injustice gave him an enormous appeal in the radical movement of the day.
    [Show full text]
  • No State Required? a Critical Review of the Polycentric Legal Order
    No State Required? A Critical Review of the Polycentric Legal Order John K. Palchak* & Stanley T. Leung** TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ..................................... 290 II. THE Two VISIONS OF ANARCHY ........................ 295 III. RANDY BARNETT'S THE STRUCTURE OF LIBERTY ............ 305 A. Barnett's PhilosophicalJustifications: Human Nature and NaturalLaw ..................... 306 B. Barnett's Discussion of the Problem of Knowledge ....... 309 1. Types of Knowledge ............................ 309 2. Methods of Social Ordering ...................... 310 3. Discovering Justice-First-Order Problem of Knowledge ................................. 312 4. Communicating Justice-Second-Order Problem of Knowledge .......................... 313 5. Specifying Conventions-Third-Order Problem of Knowledge .......................... 313 C. Barnett's Discussion of the Problem of Interest ......... 316 1. Partiality Problem ............................. 316 2. Incentive Problems ............................. 317 3. Compliance Problems .......................... 317 D. Barnett's Discussion of the Problem of Power .......... 320 1. Fighting Crime Without Punishment ................ 320 2. Enforcement Abuse ............................ 321 E. Barnett's Solution: The Polycentric Legal Order ........ 322 IV. LAW, LEGITIMACY, AND SOCIAL WELFARE .................. 326 * J.D., University of Illinois College of Law; B.A., Penn State University. Special thanks to Tom Ginsburg for his encouragement and numerous suggestions. Thanks to Tom Ulen, Richard McAdams, John Kindt, Duane Stewart, and Mark Fabiani. Also thanks to Ed Crane and Tom Palmer of the Cato Institute, and to the contributors to the Cato scholarship fund, for providing an opportunity to attend the 2000 Cato Summer Seminar in Rancho Bernardo, California that was the genesis of this Article. Appreciation is also expressed to Jesse T. Mann, Dean of Westminster College for the use of research facilities in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. **. J.D., M.D., MBA, University of Illinois; A.B., Columbia University.
    [Show full text]