Ideology
VoluntaryismLibertarian
Holds that all human relationships should be voluntary, rejecting taxation and compulsory authority as coercion, and relying on the non-aggression principle, consent and contracts to organize society.
Core ideas
- All forms of human association should rest on consent.
- Initiating force against a person or their property is wrong.
- Taxation and compulsory government are coercive and should be rejected.
- Social change should come by persuasion, example and non-violent refusal, not by seizing political power.
- Cooperation and contracts can organize society without a state.
Where it sits on the 12 axes
On the Economy axis (Collectivize to Privatize) the profile is at 20, toward the Privatize end. Government is at 5, almost fully at the Freedom end of Security to Freedom. Diplomacy and Society are both at 50, in the middle. The test looks only at these four values and picks the ideology nearest to your scores. Its profile is almost the same as that of Objectivism and close to Anarcho-Capitalism, so the three share much of the same ground on these axes.
The bar shows the position on each of the four axes an ideology is matched on; the middle mark is the centre.
History
Precursors go back to the Levellers of the mid-seventeenth century, who held that a church was a voluntary association of equals and that the same principle of consent should apply to the civil state. In the 19th century, the voluntary principle in religious matters meant opposing state-supported churches. Auberon Herbert coined the term in its political usage in the 19th century; it faded after his death in 1906. Its use was renewed in 1982 with the publication of The Voluntaryist magazine. Since the late 20th century the word has been used mainly within libertarianism, and its beliefs rest on natural rights, equality, non-coercion and the non-aggression principle.
Associated thinkers
- Auberon Herbert
Common misunderstandings
- It is not voluntarism. The spelling matters: voluntarism on its own has other meanings, so this is the usual form for the political idea.
- It is not just anarchism under another name. It began with Herbert's idea of a voluntarily funded state, and not all voluntaryists call themselves anarchists.
Related ideologies
Is Voluntaryism your closest ideology?
Take the test and see which of the ideologies your answers sit closest to.
Questions
What is Voluntaryism?
The view that all human relationships should be voluntary. Voluntaryists reject taxation and compulsory authority as coercion and rely on consent, contracts and the non-aggression principle.
Is Voluntaryism left or right?
It is not a left-right idea. The test files it as libertarian: no compulsory authority, free association. It supports free markets, but the core claim is about consent, not economics.
Voluntaryism vs Anarchism?
Voluntaryism overlaps with anarchism in rejecting compulsion, but its roots differ: Auberon Herbert argued for a voluntarily funded state, and many voluntaryists put consent and non-aggressive means first. Anarchism is a much broader family.
How does the 12 Axes test decide I am Voluntaryism?
The test compares your scores on four of the twelve axes (Economy, Government, Diplomacy, Society) with a stored profile for each of the 38 ideologies. The profile at the shortest distance across those four is your match.