Anti-statism now serves the right by making public institutions indefensible

Evidence

Whatever the merits of autonomism anti-statism, it has to be acknowledged that anti-statism is now hegemonic. There’s a congruence between the language of neo-anarchism and David Cameron’s Big Society, which is not to say that the discourses are identical. But one problem with anti-statism — particularly when coupled with localism, as it often is — is that it makes any defence of institutions like the NHS very difficult. The drive of the original autonomists was to escape existing institutions, whereas I think our aim today should be to produce new institutions. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2236

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to recent critiques that smallness/localism has been captured by the libertarian right — echoes of the excerpted work on trust and institutions elsewhere in the library. — connects to: Anti-statism now undermines defence of public institutions like the NHS — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2236; Citizens’ anti-politics posturing serves right-wing policy goals. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 933; The left should invent institutions standing for a leftist big Other — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2077 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Anti-statism now undermines defence of public institutions like the NHS #expands (0.95) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2236
• Citizens’ anti-politics posturing serves right-wing policy goals. #corroborates (0.88) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 933
• Delegitimation strips institutions of standing to persuade or govern #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 26
• Institutions can be justified without endorsement of their current form #qualifies (0.78)
• The left should invent institutions standing for a leftist big Other #responds-to (0.75) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2077
• Statolatry must be criticised so civil society becomes self-governing and spontaneous #complicates (0.75)
• Stable open government with countervailing institutions is needed to stimulate trustworthiness #complicates (0.74) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 519
• Expelling the rightless fortifies rather than weakens the state #complicates (0.73)