The Reluctant Libertarian

I’m reading Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks. I’m only a few pages in, but I thought this quote, on page 16, was interesting:

My approach heavily emphasizes individual action in nonmarket relations. Much of the discussion revolves around the choice between markets and nonmarket social behavior. In much of it, the state plays no role, or is perceived as playing a primarily negative role, in a way that is alien to the progressive branches of liberal political thought. In this, it seems more of a libertarian or an anarchistic thesis than a liberal one. I do not completely discount the state, as I will explain. But I do suggest that what is special about our moment is the rising efficacy of individuals and loose, nonmarket affiliations as agents of political economy. Just like the market, the state will have to adjust to this new emerging modality of human action. Liberal political theory must first recognize and understand it before it can begin to renegotiate its agenda for the liberal state, progressive or otherwise.

Now, from Benkler’s language, here and elsewhere in the book, it seems quite clear that his basic sympathies are with the “progressive branches of liberal political thought.” Yet Benkler is smart enough to recognize that the story he’s trying to tell doesn’t fit naturally within the progressive narrative. The emerging economy of peer production isn’t being created by democratic deliberation under the wise guidance of state regulation. No government programs are required or especially helpful to the process. Liberals can be excited about it to the extent that it’s an alternative to having the big, evil corporations do stuff, but it doesn’t leave much room for their political program.

In contrast, Benkler’s thesis dovetails nicely with the standard libertarian narrative–at least if libertarianism is understood as an ideology that defends individualism and voluntary cooperation in all its forms, rather than an ideology narrowly focused on promoting markets as the only legitimate form of economic organization. It’s a little bit unfortunate that left-wingers like Benkler and Larry Lessig are the most visible evangelists for the economics of peer production, because this is really a libertarian story: public goods being produced by the voluntary cooperation of individuals without a government program in sight.

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