Anarchy as an Institutional Denial of the State

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of anarchist interpretations of the economy. This study is relevant for the reason that the modern state has proved to be very ineffective in solving the problems associated with the emergence and spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The contradiction between the state as a political institution and the population of many countries has reached a new, extremely high, level of confrontation. The methodological base of the study is basic economic theories, including public sector and institutional economics. As a result, the author substantiated the conclusion that in the conditions of a severe crisis, when the state is unable to quickly solve new problems, negative judgments about the role of the modern state as a political institution that should solve socio-economic problems are formed quite quickly. Under these conditions, anarchist interpretations of the development of society are beginning to gain popularity, which, in principle, deny the need for the state. Anarchists, as a basic postulate, promote the position that people themselves, without any involvement of the state, are able to solve both personal and collective, and social problems. However, the course of events in the United States refutes this statement. In a situation where there is no state as an actor in social processes, real power passes to criminal groups which easily go to the most severe violence against citizens. The results of the study can be used to formulate state and regional economic policies, as well as in the course of teaching the subject “Institutional Economics”.