Covenants without the Sword: Consent and Enforcement in Market Anarchism

Carmen Pavel has recently provided an illuminating analysis of the limits of anarchic legal orders and, by extension, current arrangements for international law (Pavel 2021). Central to her argument is an account of the structural flaws in market anarchist institutions. The current paper argues that market anarchist theorists have robust responses to at least some of Pavel’s criticisms. From the anarchist viewpoint, statist approaches to legal enforcement have problems that are at least as “structural” as those Pavel attributes to anarchism. The paper seeks to articulate this anarchist position and clarify the ways in which it complicates some of Pavel’s claims. It then offers some suggestions regarding what insights this market anarchist perspective might offer for our understanding of international law.