The definitions that can be deduced from its contextual use by both members of the media and the various police forces during the RNC week seem to vary from "people who want to turn all of society into a state of chaos" to "people who like to break stuff at demonstrations."
An anarchist, quite simply, is someone who doesn't believe in centralized government. The origin of the word is mid-17th century, from the Greek word "anarkhos", meaning "without a chief/ruler".
The New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd Edition) defines "anarchy" as the "absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal."
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics defines anarchism as "the view that society can and should be organized without a coercive state."
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy adds that "there is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, beyond their rejection of compulsory government..."
Wikipedia adds, "Specific anarchists may have additional criteria for what constitutes anarchism, and they often disagree with each other on what these criteria are."
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