Anarcho-monarchism

Anarcho-monarchism is an ideology presented as a form of anarchism but with a monarch. No real political parties believe in this, so it's basically a thought experiment which became a meme. It is also easy to dismiss as complete idiocy since monarchs and anarchism are mutually exclusive. Proponents claim this is addressed with a form of voluntaryism.

Smash the state
Anarchism
It's not anarchy
It's anarchism!
Domestic terrorists?
I'm not a fascist, I like...
Actually fascism is cool
v - t - e
“”… "Show me a society where I could maximize specifically my freedom as a white male, without giving up privileges. Also not fascism, kthxbai" more or less.
—PancakeCommunism

Anarcho-monarchism competes with anarcho-capitalism and anarcho-fascism for the attention of the reactionary crowd. The core is a type of ancapistan[1] with a monarch rather than corporate feudalism. The ideology is anti-democracy and anti-egalitarian and includes a ruler with absolute unchecked power.

Theoretical background

It is widely believed to have originated as the personal ideology of Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien,[2] as described in a letter to his son Christopher.[3] Tolkien's politics have also been described as Tory Anarchism, which is a much more accurate term.[4]

Generally the original approach to anarcho-monarchist ideology is based on the unique way the British monarchy works in the UK. The UK has a monarch with virtually unlimited theoretical power, but no practical option to use it by constitutional convention. This arrangement is largely defined by common law as the UK has no written constitution that actually defines this, nevertheless the UK is considered to be a democracy, indeed one of the more democratic countries on most world rankings.

Taking this basic approach, the anarcho-monarchist suggests a similar arrangement, often with the same monarchy. The argument is simple, if the UK can be a democracy under a monarch, could it not be an anarchist society under a monarch? Whilst on the surface this argument appears entirely reasonable, it hits a brick wall pretty quickly as a monarch or indeed any ruler breaks the core anarchist principle of abolishing unjust hierarchies. This leads immediately into the issue of why there is even a monarch in the first place, and why that institution should be kept. The answer of which is realistically that this entire ideology is simply feudalism described in modern terminology.

In 2018 the libertarian reactionary writer Insula Qui published a set of essays on the subject.[5][6]

gollark: Hmm, what if stereoscopic cameras somehow?
gollark: We do also have the accelerometer/gyroscope.
gollark: A whatnow?
gollark: Peter made it work, as it is not very hard to use.
gollark: The thing will have an ultrasonic sensor anyway I believe.

See also

References
  1. ancapistan by TheSliceman (May 05, 2015) Urban Dictionary. "A hypothetical area of land and/or water where the society is under a Libertarian system of Anarchy known as Anarcho-Capitalism, which is used as a short-hand to ask theoretical questions of how society might function under Anarcho-Capitalism."
  2. Ordinary Times; Erik Kain, November 12, 2010 : Tolkien’s Anarcho-Monarchism.
  3. First Things; David Bentley Hart, November 11, 2010: Anarcho-monarchism. (archive snapshot)
  4. Edinburgh University Press; Yannick Imbert: Tolkien's Shire: The Ideal of a Conservative-Anarchist Distributist Governance. (Journal of Inklings Studies, Volume 3 Issue 1, Page 25-53, ISSN 2045-8797 Available Online Dec 2017 (https://doi.org/10.3366/ink.2013.3.1.3))
  5. The Zeroth Position; Nullus Maximus, December 31, 2018 : Book Review: Anarcho-Monarchism. (archive snapshot)
  6. Social Matter; Benjamin Welton, June 14, 2018 : Anarcho-Monarchism, Anarcho-Fascism, And The Anarch. (archive snapshot)
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