Communitarianism

Communitarianism is a political philosophy where emphasis is placed on communities and societies rather than upon the individual. In fact, communitarians believe that the development of the individual is best served by the co-operative pooling of shared resources. It promotes human rights by endorsing such things as universal healthcare, public education, environmental standards, unionism and public transport, ie those structures that are collectively owned, maintained and utilised by their members.

People are encouraged to contribute to the social capital by being members of community groups and by being active in their management.

In the context of NationStates communitarian nations might include nations that have moderate to high political freedoms and low to moderate economic freedoms. Not all such nations would be deemed communitarian.

The level of civil freedoms in a NationStates communitarian nation is harder to guage. A certain degree of individual libertarianism is compatible with communitarianism. For example, sexual freedoms, gender equality and religious beliefs can all be accommodated within a commnitarian framework. By contrast, gun ownership may be discouraged as it could be judged as inimical to public safety and, hence, social capital.

Communitarianism differs from socialism in that it does not necessarily advocate the public ownership of the means of production. Nevertheless, versions of socialism that enhance social capital could be deemed as commnitarian.

anarchism and syndicalism can be viewed as radical and highly de-centralised forms of communitarianism.

Capitalism is not necessarily antipathetical to communitarianism. The modern welfare state as practised by many western nations is an example of the two theories working together.

An example of a communitarian nation in NationStates is Errinundera which practices a radical form of communitarianism by combining with it elements of libertarianism, anarchism and socialism.

In the Errinundrian form, governance is highly decentralised so that control and ownership of public institutions is given to the immediate communities that use them. This encourages a high level of identification with public institutions and assets, especially where they are proximate to the stakeholder. As a result Errinundrians are actively involved in the management of their local social assets. Remoter institutions, in the sense of political and economic distance as well as spatial distance, are viewed less sympathetically, hence the tendency to vandalise these organisations.

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