英语中的无政府主义“anarchism”一词源于希腊语“ἀναρχία”（anarkhia），意指“没有统治者”。该希腊语由前缀“ἀ-”（即没有）及单词“αρχία”（即统治者或领导者）所组成。后缀“-ism”表示有利于无政府状态的思潮[3]。自1642年起，“anarchism”一词以“anarchisme”的形式出现在英语中；1539年起则以“anarchy”来表示——早期使用者以其代指失序感[4]。 法国大革命期间，参与其中的各个派别皆标签敌方为“无政府主义者”，但当中有些派别与后继者存有很多共同理念。部分19世纪的革命活动家（包括戈德温、魏特林）影响了下一代的无政府主义学说，但他们不会把自身的理念称为“无政府主义”[5]。第一位称自身为无政府主义者（法语：anarchiste）的政治哲学家为蒲鲁东，这使得无政府主义于19世纪中叶正式诞生。由于欧洲无政府主义者19世纪下半叶活动频繁，清朝报纸时常对其有所报导，但当时并未使用带有“无政府”的词汇，而是音译为“鸭那鸡撕德党”或意译为“无君党”[6]。1901年，受日语常用译法影响，流亡日本的梁启超在《清议报》上报道美国无政府主义者（英语：Anarchism in the United States）里昂·乔戈什刺杀总统威廉·麦金莱时，第一次称呼乔戈什为“无政府党”；由于《清议报》在当时的知识分子间有着巨大的影响力，这一译名很快取代了过去“鸭那鸡撕德党”和“无君党”的译法[7]。1902年，马君武基于英国社会主义者托马斯·柯卡普（克喀伯）《社会主义史》的第9章〈无政府主义〉，译出了《俄罗斯大风潮》[8]，并“极力推崇无政府主义这种‘新主义’”[a]。
在十九世纪末至二十世纪初，无政府主义思潮直卷全球[49]。此一趋势在国际工团主义运动中尤其明显[50]。中国的一些学生引入了无政府共产主义思想，并在此之上追随民主及科学[51]。东京亦吸引了一些具有颠覆国家思想的远东青年前往学习[52]。在拉丁美洲，阿根廷（英语：Anarchism in Argentina）是无政府主义者的据点，当中又以无政府工团主义为左翼意识形态中的主流[53]。这段时期，少部分无政府主义者利用暴力手段来达至他们的政治目的，这种策略被称为行动宣传[54]。无政府个人主义者的政治表达和行为在法国社会主义运动解体及巴黎公社社员（英语：Communards）被处决和放逐后兴起[55]。尽管许多无政府主义者不从事任何的恐怖主义行为，但他们仍受到迫害及污名化，甚至被拒移民——美国的《1903年移民法案（英语：Immigration Act of 1903）》订明该国不接受无政府主义者移民[56]。同一时期，一些无政府主义者接纳了非法主义的思想[57][54]。
当今无政府主义者的暴力程度，总体上比古典时代要低。他们大多会在示威时跟警方进行武力对抗、把行动升级至骚乱层面，并投掷燃烧瓶，这在加拿大、墨西哥（英语：Anarchism in Mexico）、希腊（英语：Anarchism in Greece）等地较为常见。激进示威者也会以黑群的形式出现，当中每个人都穿着黑色服装，然后当中一些会跟警方发生冲突[132]。不过他们不仅会跟权力机关发生冲突，还会参与对抗种族主义者及法西斯主义者的斗争。当法西斯主义者举行仇恨集会时，无政府主义者便会采取反法西斯主义行动，阻止集会进行[133]。
无政府主义者对国家的具体态度不尽相同。沃尔夫（英语：Robert Paul Wolff）认为自主与威权之间的紧张关系，足以证明国家永远不可能具备正当性。巴枯宁认为国家意味着暴力，“就是借助在可能的情况下伪装起来的、而在万不得已的情况下就撕下伪装、真相毕露的暴力的统治”。倾向于哲学无政府主义的西蒙斯（英语：A. John Simmons）和格林（英语：Leslie Green (philosopher)）则表示，若国家以协商一致的方式治理，那么其便有正当性。不过他们认为这几乎没什么可能做到[169]。无政府主义者对于怎样才能废除国家的看法亦各异[170]。
艺术
无政府主义画家毕沙罗所绘的《奥尼的栗子树》（Les chataigniers a Osny）体现了无政府主义与艺术的融合[171]。
亦有批评认为无政府主义无视及错误了解服从权威的生物倾向性——此一理论由弗格森于1886年的《北美评论（英语：North American Review）》上首次提出[188]。拉兹认为，接受权威等同于认为跟着其指示走会较有可能成功[189]。拉兹相信，不论权威的指示正确与否，此一论点都是正确的[190]。无政府主义者反对这类型的批评，因为挑战或不服从权威，并不等同于失去在承认医师或律师等权威为可靠时的好处，承认时亦不等同完全放弃独立判断[191]。无政府主义者排斥国家、相信社会革命的思维，乃至了解人性的方式，皆被学术界批评为“过于天真和简化，完全不切实际”[192]。古典无政府主义因过度相信“废除国家将使人类合力共荣”，而受到了批评[147]。
Heywood 2017，第146–147页; Bakunin 1990: "They [the Marxists] maintain that only a dictatorship—their dictatorship, of course—can create the will of the people, while our answer to this is: No dictatorship can have any other aim but that of self-perpetuation, and it can beget only slavery in the people tolerating it; freedom can be created only by freedom, that is, by a universal rebellion on the part of the people and free organization of the toiling masses from the bottom up".
Marshall 1993，第565页: "In fact, few anarchists would accept the 'anarcho-capitalists' into the anarchist camp since they do not share a concern for economic equality and social justice, Their self-interested, calculating market men would be incapable of practising voluntary co-operation and mutual aid. Anarcho-capitalists, even if they do reject the State, might therefore best be called right-wing libertarians rather than anarchists".; Honderich 1995，第31页; Meltzer 2000，第50页: "The philosophy of "anarcho-capitalism" dreamed up by the "libertarian" New Right, has nothing to do with Anarchism as known by the Anarchist movement proper".; Goodway 2006，第4页: "'Libertarian' and 'libertarianism' are frequently employed by anarchists as synonyms for 'anarchist' and 'anarchism', largely as an attempt to distance themselves from the negative connotations of 'anarchy' and its derivatives. The situation has been vastly complicated in recent decades with the rise of anarcho-capitalism, 'minimal statism' and an extreme right-wing laissez-faire philosophy advocated by such theorists as Murray Rothbard and Robert Nozick and their adoption of the words 'libertarian' and 'libertarianism'. It has therefore now become necessary to distinguish between their right libertarianism and the left libertarianism of the anarchist tradition".; Newman 2010，第53页: "It is important to distinguish between anarchism and certain strands of right-wing libertarianism which at times go by the same name (for example, Murray Rothbard's anarcho-capitalism)".
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