Anarchy in Somalia

[Dennis Hardin]

Anarchy in Somalia

Robert Murphy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute contends that Somalia is a real world demonstration of the practicality of anarchism. In contrast to the endless theoretical debates, he offers Somalia as an actual laboratory experiment on whether a society devoid of government can avoid collapsing into warring factions that prevent the growth of a free market. I do not have enough facts to argue either way, but I am fascinated.

I'm curious to know if other OL members have evidence that either supports or disproves Murphy’s thesis.

[john42t]

Anarchy in Somalia

Robert Murphy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute contends that Somalia is a real world demonstration of the practicality of anarchism. In contrast to the endless theoretical debates, he offers Somalia as an actual laboratory experiment on whether a society devoid of government can avoid collapsing into warring factions that prevent the growth of a free market. I do not have enough facts to argue either way, but I am fascinated.

I'm curious to know if other OL members have evidence that either supports or disproves Murphy’s thesis.

Near the end of the article there's an ad depicting H.H.Hoppe, who promotes monarchism as anarcho-capitalism (long theory short: it's not a real state if it's owned privately, intriguing argument). Now if that's anarchism, it can work as everybody knows. Is that the question?

If not, what is the question? The article already admits that certain businessmen (I suppose the successful ones) have to defend themselves.

Everybody knows that Somalia is poor. Once there will be someone who really gets some wealth he will have to have some real army to defend himself against the looters that wealth attracts. If he already has that army, he's naturally going to use it to provide others with security too. He will make agreements with other such armed entrepreneurs about where their respective "jurisdictions" end for practical reasons. If that happens within a failed democratic state, it's called organized crime. But outside it, it's traditionally called a monarchy.

What do "anarchists" want?

[Bryce]

A country with a weak central government and rival faction(s) does not constitute anarchy. He should have written about commercial successes unhindered by regulation and improved qualities of life. After all, that's what he seemed to want to convey. Instead, the author juxtaposed his concept of anarchy onto a country replete with two warring governments and sharia law, then pointlessly concluded that the current state of affairs are better than under it's former dictatorship.

[Selene]

A country with a weak central government and rival faction(s) does not constitute anarchy. He should have written about commercial successes unhindered by regulation and improved qualities of life. After all, that's what he seemed to want to convey. Instead, the author juxtaposed his concept of anarchy onto a country replete with two warring governments and sharia law, then pointlessly concluded that the current state of affairs are better than under it's former dictatorship.

Bryce:

Precisely where my mind went reading Dennis' post. I have not read the article yet, but the comparative models suggested did not match up in my mind.

Adam