Airstrip One

Anarchist Defence - 22nd December 2002, 17.27

Another contribution from anti-state.com on the issue of defending an anarcho-capitalist or anarcho-socialist nation. Keith Preston's article, entitled "Anarchist National Defense and Foreign Policy" has some pointers for the minarchist polity although its greatest weakness is providing a 'cultural' answer to the free-rider problem. These are based upon the experiences of Sweden and Switzerland during the Second World War:

It seems that both nations saved themselves largely by following a simple libertarian foreign policy of free trade, free migration, cordial diplomacy, armed neutrality and non-intervention combined with a collective will to defend themselves at all costs.

The historical foundations of this passage are shaky but a non-interventionist policy of armed neutrality backed by an armed populace is worth aiming for - and such a nation would need to revere the right to bear arms.