Atlas / Organisations / Minarchist Libertarianism
Minarchist Libertarianism
Nozick, LP · 1971– · United States, worldwide · Libertarian · Electoral party · coding confidence high
Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →
Core principles
A night-watchman state limited to police, courts and defence; maximum personal and economic freedom otherwise.
Economic model
Free markets, abolition of most regulation and welfare, sound money, open trade.
Organisation of powers
Strict constitutional limits, strong federalism, civil liberties including drug legalisation and free speech absolutism.
Reading note
Coded socially permissive and economically far right, a combination that a single line always misrepresents.
Check a claim about Minarchist Libertarianism. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.
Open in the atlasThe evidence for every score
All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.
EC · Economic organisation · scored +10
At the market pole: police, courts and defence only.
- Programme textNozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) derives a night-watchman state and no more.
CU · Social and cultural order · scored −03
Coded −3: socially permissive by construction.
- Programme textUS Libertarian Party platform has supported drug legalisation, same-sex marriage and free expression since the 1970s.
AU · Organisation of power · scored −08
Coded −8: strict constitutional limits and civil liberties.
- Programme textThe US party platform has opposed surveillance, conscription and drug prohibition since 1972.
SC · Scale of decision · scored −07
Coded −7: strong federalism and secession sympathies.
- Programme textPlatform commitments to devolve nearly all federal functions to states or individuals.
ID · Rule of membership · scored −04
Coded −4: open immigration in platform terms.
- Programme textPlatform supports free movement of people across borders subject only to criminal exclusion.
CH · Method and tempo · scored −03
Coded −3: electoral and educational, with an explicit non-aggression principle.
- Programme textThe non-aggression principle is a membership requirement of the US party.
Where it came from, and what came after
- split fromAnarcho-Capitalism
Nozick's night-watchman state was formulated in explicit argument against anarcho-capitalism.
- takes its doctrine fromClassical Liberalism
The night-watchman state is classical liberalism with the residual functions specified.
Nearest organisations by measured distance
Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.
- Classical Liberalism4.6
- Objectivism4.8
- Individualist Anarchism6.7
- Free Democratic Party8.2
- Anarcho-Capitalism8.3
- The Levellers9.0
Countries
Arguments this entry is used in
Claims in circulation that turn on where this organisation sits. Each gives the strongest case for it, the strongest case against, and the measurement.
Cite this page
Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.
Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.