Published as: David Macauley, “Anarchism,” Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, ed. J. Baird Callicott and Robert Frodeman (Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan). ANARCHISM The word anarchism derives from the ancient Greek term anarchos, meaning ‘‘without ruler.’’ Anarchism is a political philosophy that views the ideal society as noncoercive, nonauthoritarian, and nonhierarchical, lacking the existence of a compulsory government or state. Anarchists advocate libertarian political strategies for advancing toward those goals. Anarchism assumes a variety of forms: individualist, mutualist, collectivist, and syndicalist. These variants of anarchism express diverse views on issues such as the proper or necessary roles of violence, the free market, technology, property, organized labor, and religion and spirituality. Ecological or green anarchism finds close connections between the idea or practice of controlling the natural world and the social domination of humans by one another; it commonly challenges reformist, narrowly anthropocentric ideas and institutions, including those of mainstream environmentalism. Ecoanarchism envisions a harmonious relationship between humans and nature, fostered by nonpolluting ecological technologies and human-scale practices. With its emphasis on community, ecoanarchism stresses the importance of small-scale, local human interactions, voluntarism, decentralism, and direct political action. Like most anarchist philosophies, it combines utopian aspirations with prescriptions for political and social practice. HISTORY AND KEY FIGURES Anarchism has a long history rooted in opposition to government, especially to what it considers to be illegitimate or oppressive forms of political authority. Anarchist luminaries have come from a wide variety of fields: revolutionary activists such as Michel Bakunin (1814–1876) (who battled Marx and Marxists) and Emma Goldman (1869–1940) (feminist and defender of free love), writers and novelists such as Leo Tolstoy (1828– 1910) and Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), and academics such as Noam Chomsky (1928–). Anarchists have com- bated what they perceive as unjust social and political power and have sought to establish counter-institutions, subcultures, and communities that are egalitarian, libertarian, and/or ecologically sensitive. Daoism is among the most ancient philosophical forebears of anarchism. It arose in southern China in the sixth century B.C.E. and anticipates several themes of later anarchist thought, especially ecoanarchism. Daoists believe in following the Dao, the true way of nature as opposed to the artificial rules and conventions of human society, which can generate social conflict and personal tensions. Lao-tzu (flourished in the sixth century B.C.E.), the reputed author of the Tao De Ching, perceived a harmony and organic wholeness in the natural world—sometimes represented by the symbol of the yin and yang—that suggested the possibility of a peaceful, non-domineering relationship with the social and cosmic order. Rejecting traditional philosophical dichotomies and legal and political structures, Daoists endeavor to follow the natural flow of the social and physical worlds—like water running gently to the sea—and to practice wu-wei (literally ‘‘nonaction’’), a nonforcing, flexible way of life. Some forms of Buddhism like Zen echo Daoism in their deep love of nature and their strong opposition to coercive power. Such themes clearly influenced the thought and practice of the Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948), who practiced and taught the Hindu concepts of ahimsa (nonviolence and nonharm) and satyagraha (passive resistance or truth- force) in helping to liberate India from colonial rule. The French geographer Elisee Reclus(1830–1905) was one of the first anarchists to advocate a holistic view of the environment; he espoused a form of nature mysticism that embraced ethical vegetarianism. In Germany Gustav Landauer (1870–1919) also advanced a pantheist variant of nonviolent ethical anarchism. The Russian geographer, field naturalist, and revolutionary Peter Kropotkin (1842–1921) emerged as one of the most significant anarchist theorists by linking a lasting vision of the natural world with a new political framework for human society. Kropotkin stressed the mutualistic, altruistic, and cooperative aspects of animal and human communities and argued that mutual aid—not just ruthless struggle and competition—is a vital aspect of evolutionary change, a point later supported by many biologists. He tried to provide a naturalistic foundation for ethics by showing that humans can derive moral ideas and social ideals from the patterns of the natural world. By vocally criticizing capitalism and the state as unjust, outlining a garden model for agriculture, proposing the medieval commune as a normative exemplar for culture, and using the sciences of biology and ethology for social analysis, Kropotkin creatively united evolutionary and revolutionary orientations into a coherent environmental worldview. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), the American writer, naturalist, and transcendentalist, has exercised a profound and enduring influence on environmental thought. Thoreau was an individualistic anarchist who celebrated nature and was deeply skeptical of the government, especially insofar as it imposed slavery and waged war. ‘‘I heartily accept the motto,—‘That government is best which governs least,’’’ he wrote, adding, ‘‘I also believe ‘That government is best which governs not at all’’ (1937, p. 635). Through his experiences living and writing at Walden Pond and his journeys into the wilderness, Thoreau found in the complex workings of the natural world inspiration for an environmental ethic that involves compassion for animals, respect for the wild, a commitment to place, and the virtue of living simply, self-sufficiently, and sustainably. Strongly influenced by Kropotkin, the American Murray Bookchin (1921–2006) explicitly wed anarchist philosophy with environmental concerns in developing Social Ecology into an important school of thought. In essays like ‘‘Ecology and Revolutionary Thought’’ and books such as Toward an Ecological Society and Ecology of Freedom, Bookchin held that ecological problems originate in the social sphere, especially in hierarchical political systems. Social Ecology articulates a developmental view of nature and extols the merits of ecological com- munities and what Bookchin called ‘‘libertarian municipalism’’ as alternatives to the nation-state. Toward the end of his life, however, Bookchin grew increasingly critical of anarchists and anarchism, describing himself as a communalist instead. Other prominent American writers and thinkers whose ideas fit broadly within the ecoanarchist tradition include the historian and urban planner Lewis Mumford, the poet Gary Snyder, the political theorist John Clark, the ecopsychologist Theodore Roszak, the historian Peter Marshall, the writer Edward Abbey, and the technological critic David Watson. ANARCHISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL THOUGHT Kirkpatrick Sale once remarked, ‘‘What better understanding of the liberatory possibilities of humankind could the ecologist get than from the anarchist; what better understanding of the liberatory character of the natural world could the anarchist get from the ecologist?’’ (1985, p. 23). This comment underscores the convictions of many green anarchists, who find in nature a model, a measure, or a mentor for their political practice and thought. Ecological anarchism has close ties not only with Social Ecology but also with bioregionalism, a perspective built around the notion of ‘‘life places’’ that serve as alternatives to established political territories. Bioregionalists stress the importance of geographical areas that provide natural local frameworks for human communities. Bioregions are defined by their biota and topography—including soil, climate, and watersheds—instead of by human conventions; they can be divided into ecoregions, georegions, and morphoregions that nest in one another like Chinese boxes. According to its proponents, bioregional awareness encourages a respect for the earth and its inhabitants and offers an environmental, economic, and political paradigm of local self-sufficiency and mutual aid that resonates with, draws upon, and expands the basic tenets of ecological anarchism. Also associated with such forms of ecocommunalism is ecomonasticism, a perennial environmental current that calls for individuals and groups to secede, disengage, or withdraw from unsustainable institutions and cultural practices. This outlook has antecedents in intentional communities, utopian experiments, and monastic orders in which members attempt to cultivate ways of life that are ecologically friendly, nonauthoritarian, and nonconformist. Another significant variant of ecoanarchism is anarcho-primitivism, a viewpoint kindred in some ways to Deep Ecology. This current has issued an ecological and political critique of the very origins and historical development of civilization itself, including what it claims to be the deleterious effects of technology, agriculture, domestication, population growth, science, industry, and the division of labor. Anarcho-primitivists hold that with the rapid rise of civilization over the last 10,000 years, humans have disembedded themselves from the ecological web of life and have thereby surrendered leisure time, social equality, and physical health while falling prey to a destructive relation to the land, organized violence, new and dangerous diseases, the subjugation of women, and meaningless or repetitive work. One such theorist, John Zerzan, traces some of these changes to the advent of symbolic language, numbers and agriculture. Anarcho-primitivists such as Paul Shepard look toward hunter-gatherer societies and tribal groupings for more balanced relations with the environment and for more livable ‘‘future primitive’’ models of community, advocating ‘‘re-wilding’’ the earth along with the active use of simple tools as opposed to the passive utilization of complex or opaque technological systems, which, he argues, sacrifice resources, time, and important human values. Many, though not all, ecoanarchists support vegetarianism and animal rights or animal liberation. Some work with direct-action groups like Earth First!, the Animal Liberation Front, or Earth Liberation Front in order to promote environmental goals through property destruction, creative protest, theft, or other illegal activities when these efforts are deemed necessary or beneficial. Critics of ecological anarchism have noted its penchant for utopian or romantic views of nature, politics, or human nature; its opposition to all forms of the nation- state, an institution that some environmentalists deem necessary to address large-scale, complex, international ecological problems; and its emphasis on voluntaristic solutions or decentralist forms of organization, which critics judge to be ineffective or unworkable. Ecoanarchists counter such critiques by arguing that the urgency of ecological and political crises necessitate radical ethical and social changes in order to adequately mitigate or vanquish the sources of these predicaments. Anarchism clearly exerted an early influence on the nascent environmental movement. In the very radicality of its analyses and ideals, it poses a bracing challenge to any misplaced complacency about the depth and gravity of the contemporary environmental crisis and the extent of the measures needed to address it. SEE ALSO: Abbey, Edward; Bookchin, Murray; Daoism; Deep Ecology; Earth First!; Regionalism; Snyder, Gary; Social Ecology; Thoreau, Henry David. BIBLIOGRAPHY Biehl, Janet, ed. 1997. The Murray Bookchin Reader. London: Cassell. Bookchin, Murray. 1971. Post-Scarcity Anarchism. Berkeley: Ramparts. Bookchin, Murray. 1980. Toward an Ecological Society. Montreal, Canada: Black Rose. Bookchin, Murray. 1982. The Ecology of Freedom. Palo Alto, CA: Cheshire. Clark, John. 1984. The Anarchist Moment: Reflections on Culture, Nature, and Power. Montreal, Canada: Black Rose. Clark, John. 2005. ‘‘Anarchism’’ in Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, ed. Bron Taylor. New York: Continuum. Eckersley, Robyn. 1992. Environmentalism and Political Theory: Toward an Ecocentric Approach. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Guerin, Daniel. 1970. Anarchism: From Theory to Practice. New York: Monthly Review Press. Macauley, David, ed. 1996. Minding Nature: The Philosophers of Ecology. New York: Guilford. Macauley, David. 1998. ‘‘Evolution and Revolution: The Ecological Anarchism of Kropotkin and Bookchin’’ in Social Ecology after Bookchin, ed. Andrew Light. New York: Guilford. Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1985. ‘‘Anarchy and Ecology: A Review Essay.’’ Social Anarchism 5(2): 14–23. Shepard, Paul. 1998. The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Thoreau, Henry David. 1937. ‘‘Civil Disobedience’’ in Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau, ed. Brooks Atkinson. New York: Modern Library. Woodcock, George. 1962. Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. New York: New American Library.