Definitions of various concepts provided in the book are collected here—so you don’t have to dig through the entire text.
1. What is Ancap
1.1. Basic Principles of Libertarianism
1.1.1. The Principle of Self-Ownership
Rights — claims that have been accepted.
The Principle of Self-Ownership — the presumption that every person belongs to themselves, meaning they have the right to dispose of themselves.
1.1.2. The Non-Aggression Principle
Violence — the use of the right to dispose of oneself in a way that prevents another from disposing of themselves.
The Non-Aggression Principle — no one has the right to the unpunished initiation of violence.
1.1.3. Property
Property Right — a claim to the exclusive or preferential use of an object, recognized by others.
Original Appropriation (homesteading) — a claim to the use of an object to which no similar claims have been made by others in the foreseeable past.
Exchange — the voluntary redistribution of property rights by the owners.
Compensation for Damages — the acquisition of property as restitution for damage to property.
Production — the process of transforming property through labor.
1.1.4. Conflicts, Morality, and Law
Conflict — a state in which the same object (subject of conflict) is viewed as a means to achieve different goals, where one use hinders another or even makes it impossible.
Conflict De-escalation — a tactic in which a subject reduces their own claims to the subject of conflict.
Conflict Protraction — a tactic in which a subject is willing to endure damage but refuses to give up their claims to the subject of conflict.
Conflict Escalation — a tactic in which an attempt is made or a threat is issued to cause damage to the second conflicting party in order to force them to reduce their claims to the subject of conflict. This may also be accompanied by an expansion of one’s own claims.
Ethics — internal attitudes concerning which tactic to choose in various conflicts.
Morality — the order of behavior during conflicts that evokes the greatest approval from society.
Law — the established order for resolving conflicts within a society.
Justice — the feeling of proportionality between the damage caused and the value of the subject of conflict.
Conflict Resolution — a procedure following which the conflicting parties agree to recognize a new configuration of their property rights regarding the subject of conflict.
Court — a type of conflict resolution procedure in which the decision on the new configuration of property rights regarding the subject of conflict is made by a third party.
Arbitration Court — a type of court conducted by a party whose jurisdiction over the matter is recognized by all participants in the conflict, and whose decision they pledge to obey even before it is issued.
1.2. Power
1.2.1. The Nature of Power
Power — a relationship between a subject and an object, within which the subject has the ability to change the state of the object.
1.2.2. Libertarianism and Power
Meritocratic Approach — an approach to solving the task of eliminating injustice, in which power is granted to the person who is best able to solve it and is less inclined to abuse that power.
Anarchic Approach — an approach to solving the task of eliminating injustice, in which power for its resolution is granted to a spontaneously assembled collective of volunteers, which dissolves immediately after the task is solved.
1.3. The Market
1.3.1. Labor Productivity
Capitalization of Labor — a method of increasing productivity by replacing or supplementing labor with capital goods, such as machinery or software.
Cooperation — a method of increasing productivity through the joint labor of people on a single task (within this definition, labor is considered interchangeable).
Division of Labor — a method of increasing productivity by specializing people in separate tasks in which they are more efficient.
Envy — a feeling of injustice arising from inequality, experienced by the person who receives a smaller reward for the same or higher costs.
1.3.2. The Plan
Planning — the determination of what efforts, when, in what sequence, and with the involvement of which resources should be undertaken to achieve a future preferred by the planner.
1.3.3. The Market
Market. In a narrow sense — a set of practices ensuring the possibility of free trade between its participants. In a broad sense — a set of practices ensuring the free conduct of any voluntary transactions.
1.3.4. Capitalism
Capitalism — a social system in which commodity-money relations dominate.
1.4. Ancap
1.4.1. The Concept of Ancap
Anarcho-capitalism (ancap, market anarchism) — a social system in which market mechanisms for coordinating individual plans and an anarchic approach to eliminating injustice dominate. Ancap is also used to refer to the ideology according to which the state should be completely abolished, as state activity is immanently contradictory to libertarian principles. In this form, ancap is usually contrasted with minarchism.
2. Life under Ancap
2.2. An Imperfect World
2.2.2. Externalities
Externalities — the influence of some activity on third parties that is not the immediate goal of that activity.
2.2.3. Ancap and an Imperfect World
Spontaneous Order — unintended self-organization that manifests as a result of subjects following certain simple rules or incentives.
3. Approaching Ancap
3.3. Approaches to Changing Society
3.3.1. Minarchism: The Path of Political Reform
Minarchism — an approach to implementing libertarian principles in society through political reforms. Minarchism also refers to the ideology according to which the state must be preserved in a certain minimal necessary volume. In this form, minarchism is usually contrasted with ancap.
3.3.4. Agorism: The Internal Growth of Ancap
Agorism — a strategy for implementing libertarian principles in society through direct living by these principles, including in defiance of direct state prohibitions. The primary tool of agorism is counter-economics, a network of economic and legal horizontal ties between people.