What Is Anarcho-Capitalism?

Anarcho-capitalism advocates for the abolition of centralized states, and the primacy of private property and contractual agreements in the economic system. 

Anarcho-capitalists believe that the state as it is currently conceived is an impediment to the development of a “free” society — and that the existence of states in capitalist societies result in a system of coercion. 

This political philosophy maintains that the free market is the cornerstone of a truly free society, and that people should be free to engage with each other through contractual agreements — beyond the control or oversight of the state. 

Instead of the state handling the enforcement of contracts and the resolution of grievances, private agencies competing in a free market would take charge.

Anarcho-capitalists believe that the means of production should be privately owned — and that work and commodities should be organized through the system of wage labor. 

The concept of "original appropriation" allows for any individual to claim an absolute right of ownership over any resource that has not previously been used. “Self-ownership” is another important principle, and this refers to an individual's absolute right over their own body.Many anarcho-capitalists consider blockchain-based decentralized technologies to be a means by which the practical problems of anarcho-capitalism may be solved. 

They claim that decentralized services provide an alternative to the bureaucratic functions of the state, particularly by providing immutable and publicly available records of identity and contractual obligations (the latter through the use of smart contracts.)There have been small-scale experiments in the creation of real communities organized according to anarcho-capitalist principles. The most notable of these is Liberstad, a private city-society in Norway that was founded in 2015.