One subject that concerns a lot of people across the globe in current times is terrorism so I thought I would take the time to discuss its cause and effects in an Anarchist/Voluntaryist society.

As I see it there are 2 main areas that we would need to look at; existing terrorism and terrorist groups; and new and emerging terrorist groups.

Starting with new terrorist groups , I do not see that  an anarchist society would be a driver to create new terrorist groups. Primarily this view is based on view that terrorist activities spring up as a direct result of state activities normally from interventions or invasions of other nations and with no state performing these actions its reasonable to conclude that the formation of groups against such actions is unlikely.

However we must address the issue of existing terrorist groups. If an Anarchist state is to emerge its fairly safe to say that ISIS  would not just  give up and go home.

My thoughts on this issue are that over the course of time the ability of these groups to recruit and carry out attacks would be reduced. With no particular nation state to define as the enemy and without interventionist Government policies such as drone strikes affecting citizens its hard to see that an organisation would be able to sustain the propaganda needed to recruit members. I could envisage that these groups would eventually fade and die of "natural causes".

This does not address the here and now where the threat of an attack is very real so we need to consider what would happen with the lack of Government provided security services. My view is that in a free society security and intelligence services would still be provided and likely funded by means of insurance (other suggestions welcome). Security services provided b y the state have always had a number of issues and without getting too bogged down in the detail theses include examples such as always having to play catch up with tactics and technology as well as being a political pawn to be used and abused as the state see's fit. In a free market; where ideas and innovations are rewarded; I can see many of these issues addressed with services focussed on protecting customers i.e. you and me.

This is only a brief dip of the toe into the topic and is certainly open to a much more in depth look at some point. What I would say to anyone that holds the opinion that an Anarchist society would potentially be beholden to terrorist or other groups is that there is a clear argument to suggest that this would not be the case. The beautiful thing about an Anarchist society would be that new ideas and ways of providing security would be easily possible and that given time there would likely be solutions that we wouldn't foresee currently.

I believe that without a state interfering in people's lives at home and abroad that in the fullness of time terrorism would disappear as there would be nothing for groups to ideologically oppose. These are merely my musings on the subject and welcome any comments, questions and feedback on the subject.