# Anarchy: What's the deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 26, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anarchy-whats-the-deal/511656 "2009-09-26T17:17:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anarchy-whats-the-deal/511656/161 "2009-10-04T19:22:37Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Because an organized response is more efficient. Prove this. IME, organisation of people requires extra energy, whereas when people arrive at a solution by happenstance, they tend not to see it as work, but rather as “the way things are”. They then fight it less, making that way of doing things surprisingly efficient in terms of time and effort. > [@](#): > > Specialization is efficient, I disagree - specialisation is often the exact opposite of efficient - you often have to wait for the particular specialist to arrive etc. whereas a Jack-of-all-trades would be there already. It usually is the most _economically_ parsimonous,yes, as it cuts down on time spent doing the actual work, but that is only one measure of efficiency and not one that Anarchia would attach much value to, anyway. Adaptability is the way to go, IMO, and that’s where _ad hoc_ emergent solution excell. > [@](#): > > therefore a police force and army dedicated to enforcing the consensus can respond more quickly and effectively than a lynch mob. In my experience, the lynch mod usually arrives before the cops. But who said Anarchia would have mob rule? Who said Anarchia wouldn’t have organisations similar to police and the like? In fact, I see Anarchia as having quite a dedicated volunteer civil service. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anarchy-whats-the-deal/511656/162 "2009-10-04T21:46:41Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > But who said Anarchia would have mob rule? Who said Anarchia wouldn’t have organisations similar to police and the like? In fact, I see Anarchia as having quite a dedicated volunteer civil service. Now all we need is an organized set of guidelines when the civil service would spring into action, and what they would do when they did. We could call these guidelines “laws”. Now we have armies and police and laws. Not very anarchic, is it? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anarchy-whats-the-deal/511656/163 "2009-10-04T21:52:03Z")
I would agree with this. EDIT: **Shodan’s** post above, I mean. If there is any kind of formal, organized, structured “enforcement”, you’ve got, umm, law enforcement. To me, anarchy does not rule out spontaneous emphatic (even violent) responses to violence, but it does rule out nonspontaneous organized etc forces. > [@](#): > > Because an organized response is more efficient. True. Anarchy is just going to have to dispense with an efficient and effective mechanism for imposing social order. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anarchy-whats-the-deal/511656/164 "2009-10-05T07:28:52Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > To me, anarchy does not rule out spontaneous emphatic (even violent) responses to violence, but it does rule out nonspontaneous organized etc forces. I disagree, as long as the force is a local organisation composed of volunteer citizens with a service term limit. What you’re describing is somewhere between a posse and a lynch mod, whereas I don’t see something like a (limited term) community-appointed sheriff & deputies as being incompatible with anarchism, anymore than a citizen’s militia would be. But that’s IMO, and anyway, I don’t favour the use of violence to resolve even violent conflict, so I’m not speaking about what I’d like, just what I’d find acceptable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anarchy-whats-the-deal/511656.md?page=8)