Anarchism

Abstract

Anarchism is distinguished by its rejection of the state as a mode of social organization and its emphasis on small, self‐governing communities linked through voluntary federation. Anarchism has its roots in radical strains of Enlightenment thought. From the 1860s on, the evolution of anarchist thought was closely tied to the history and ideas of the revolutionary socialist movement. Although the period of “classical” anarchist thought came to an end with the effective dissolution of the international anarchist movement in the 1930s and 1940s, in the wake of the 1960s, a new “wave” of anarchist thinkers has helped to revitalize anarchist thought and develop it in new directions.