Left-libertarianism (or
left-wing libertarianism) names several related but distinct approaches to
political and social theory, which stress both
individual freedom and social equality. In its oldest usage,
left-libertarianism is a synonym for
anti-authoritarian varieties of
left-wing politics, either
anarchism in general or
social anarchism in particular. It later became associated with free-market libertarians when
Murray Rothbard and
Karl Hess reached out to the
New Left in the 1960s. This
left-wing market anarchism, which includes
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's
mutualism and
Samuel Edward Konkin III's
agorism, appeals to left-wing concerns such as
egalitarianism,
gender and
sexuality,
class, immigration, and
environmentalism. Most recently,
left-libertarianism refers to mostly non-anarchist political positions associated with
Hillel Steiner,
Philippe Van Parijs, and
Peter Vallentyne that combine
self-ownership with an egalitarian approach to natural resources.