Constitutionalising Anarchy

Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-009-78547-1
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 380 Seiten

Reihe: LSE International Studies

Anarchism is often assumed to stand outside constitutionalism, yet it forms a significant, if overlooked, tradition of constitutional thought. Addressing global constitutional crises and the impasses of state-centred politics, this book brings anarchism into productive dialogue with constitutional, political and international theory. At its core is a reconstruction of anarchist social theory grounded in an ontology of anarchy shaped by European social science and republican concerns with dividing and balancing power. These ideas were reinterpreted by major anarchist thinkers - from Proudhon to Lucy Parsons, and from Tolstoy to Kotoku Shusui - who advanced decentralised, federalist alternatives to imperial and hierarchical orders. Combining intellectual history with co-produced research alongside anarchist groups, Constitutionalising Anarchy shows how constitutional practices developed within militant labour unions, protest movements and cooperatives across the twentieth century. It reconsiders anarchy, constitutionalism and the possibilities of political organisation. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kinna, Ruth

Prichard, Alex

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments; Introduction: constitutionalising anarchy; 1. Constitutionalising and the spectre of anarchy; 2. The anarchist critique of constitutionalism; 3. Anarchy, culture and association; 4. War, pacification and decentralised federalism; 5. Decentralised federalism and class war constitutionalism in the IWW; 6. Democracy vs. anarchy in Occupy Oakland; 7. Cultures of anarchy in radical routes; Conclusion: anarchist constitutionalising as everyday revolutions; Bibliography; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Prichard, Alex
Alex Prichard is an IR theorist at the University of Exeter. His books include Anarchism. A Very Short Introduction (2022), and Justice, Order and Anarchy: The International Political Theory of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (2013). He is co-founder of the PSA Anarchist Studies Network and co-editor of the 'Contemporary Anarchist Studies' monograph series.

Kinna, Ruth
Ruth Kinna is a political theorist and historian of ideas at Loughborough University. Her books include The Government of No One (2019) and Kropotkin: Reviewing the Classical Anarchist Tradition (2016). She is co-founder of the Political Studies Association's Anarchist Studies Network and co-editor of the journal Anarchist Studies.