> The thought has crossed my mind that for anarchists  
> the equivalent word for "spontaneous order" would  
> be anarchy. (but not the mask thereof)  
> Nicholas J. Theocarakis  
  
True for anarchists, but the spontaneous order  
could also occur in a pure free market under  
a government limited to the protection against  
force and fraud.  Ludwig von Mises in his work  
Socialism (1922) argued that only in an unhampered  
market could there be efficient economic   
calculation.  Key to the Mises argument is that  
socialism could succeed in a stationary economy,  
but it is precisely the constantly changing  
variables in the real world that make  
global socialism ineffective, as market  
prices and profits provide the knowledge  
that is otherwise unavailable to central  
planners.  But Mises in that work stated  
that this would be within a government that  
provided a legal and protective infrastructure.  
  
A full spontaneous order requires either  
an anarchy that provides security from   
voluntary association, or else a strictly limited  
though imposed government.  Thus, anarchists   
may think that voluntary association is more  
likely, desirable, or effective than an   
imposed limited government, but should not  
leap to the conclusion that ONLY anarchy  
would provide a spontaneous order.  
  
It is indeed even possible to have an anarchist  
voluntary assocation that is large and highly  
restrictive, so that even though everybody  
in the system favors it, the rules   
in effect create central planning and stifle  
spontaneous dynamics.  
  
Fred Foldvary