Episode 12: Is Civil Governance Without The State Plausible?

A discussion of the main points of Kerry Baldwin’s article on the plausibility of stateless civil governance and the common difficulty in imagining such a society. We talk about factors that may contribute to the failure of imagination such as the mere-exposure effect, the Overton window, and plausibility structures. Also mentioned are several examples of historically existing non-monopolistic civil governance. Spontaneous order is explained in terms of a consistent sphere sovereignty, and we provide resources on how civil governance can be practically and realistically provided without the state.

https://reformedlibertarians.com/012/

00:00 Start

00:32 Episode description
Article discussed: https://libertarianchristians.com/2018/05/07/plausibility-of-a-stateless-society/

01:18 Previous episodes in this series
1. Law and order, and the question of legitimacy
https://reformedlibertarians.com/003
2. Human sinfulness, and the question of necessity
https://reformedlibertarians.com/005
3. Economics and social hierarchy, and the question of inevitability
https://reformedlibertarians.com/009

01:57 Main points of article on failure of imagination, and the question of the plausibility of stateless (non-monopolistic) civil governance

03:10 Reasons for difficulty in imagining non-monopolistic civil governance
Bias towards the familiar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere-exposure_effect

05:21 The Overton window
The range of thinkable ideas in a society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

08:58 Plausibility structures
Social realities that reinforce or help a belief seem true
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausibility_structure

10:14 What about the roads?
https://mises.org/wire/government-road-management-there-better-way

10:42 Historical examples of non-monopolistic civil governance
Previously mentioned:
Ancient Ireland: https://mises.org/library/private-law-emerald-isle
Law Merchant: https://fee.org/articles/the-law-merchant-and-international-trade/
Not-so-wild West: https://mises.org/library/not-so-wild-wild-west

Other examples:
Quaker Pennsylvania
https://mises.org/library/pennsylvanias-anarchist-experiment-1681-1690
Medieval Iceland
https://mises.org/library/medieval-iceland-and-absence-government
Zomia (south Asian highlands)
text: https://mises.org/library/art-not-being-governed
audio: https://mises.org/library/james-c-scott-art-not-being-governed
[ index for The Libertarian Tradition podcast: https://mises.org/library/libertarian-tradition?page=2 ]

13:01 Division of labor makes stateless society more plausible
https://mises.org/wire/division-labor-clarified

13:46 Somalia is better-off without a state
https://mises.org/library/rule-law-without-state

14:58 Recap on Sphere Sovereignty
https://www.academia.edu/32356017/Dooyeweerds_Societal_Sphere_Sovereignty_2017_revision_
Reformed Libertarianism Statement
https://reformedlibertarians.com/reformed-libertarianism-statement/

18:55 Polycentric emergent societal order
Popular-level article
https://fee.org/articles/spontaneous-order/
Video essay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQhkrYqA7S4&list=PLwrDNUO5MDu95jfsFdfN2oe8vXQ6Cma-h&index=9
Bibliographic essay
https://oll.libertyfund.org/page/the-tradition-of-spontaneous-order-a-bibliographical-essay-by-norman-barry
Example of the price system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkPGfTEZ_r4

22:31 Practical outlines for how non-monopolist civil governance can be provided
_Chaos Theory_ , by Robert Murphy
text: https://mises.org/library/chaos-theory-two-essays-market-anarchy-0
audio: https://mises.org/library/chaos-theory-two-essays-market-anarchy-audio

_The Machinery of Freedom_ , by David Freidman
video summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTYkdEU_B4o&list=PLwrDNUO5MDu95jfsFdfN2oe8vXQ6Cma-h&index=11
2nd edition free [pdf]: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf
3rd edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1507785607?tag=kerrybaldwin-20

The Reformed Libertarians Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute: https://libertarianchristians.com and a member of the Christians for Liberty Network: https://christiansforliberty.net

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