Contemporary Justice Review 6 (Mar 2003), 1: 9-24
This essay explores the restorative implications of anarchist
communities through an analysis of processes such as norm
formation, sanctioning, conflict resolution, & economic exchange.
The study explores ways in which anarchist communities employ
various restorative measures to maintain group cohesion & achieve
a modicum of social control through the application of natural
phenomena such as diffuse power, fluid authority, community
consensus, & mutual aid. Drawing on studies of communities
manifesting anarchist tendencies - including utopian experiments,
indigenous cultures, & the unique case of the Rainbow Family of
Living Light - a picture begins to emerge wherein conceptions of
property & the social dynamics that inhere within a community are
inextricably linked, suggesting the propensity of anarchist
communities to promote an organic synthesis of self, society, &
nature. In the end, by exploring tenets associated with the
nascent restorative justice paradigm, it is observed that
anarchist communities manifest principles that challenge the
dominant conceptions of criminality & legality, providing a
framework for envisioning models of justice-in-practice that
appear on the horizon of possibility & potentiality.