Are there any nations with Libertarian governments?

I know some smartasses will probably show up and say “hurr durr Somalia lol,” (which is closer to anarchy, which libertarianism is not).

That said, I’d say the US is actually the closest thing to a nation with a sort of libertarian government.

Also, though it isn’t a country, Hong Kong would probably be a good example, at least economically.

No.

No. It’s impossible to run a real country that way. I read a great discussion of this once, which I am trying to find!

OK, found it.

@crisw That’s a very interesting critique of libertarian philosophy and I enjoyed reading it. However, for the purposes of this thread, I’m interested in learning if there are actually libertarian governments in existence, not criticizing libertarianism. It is difficult enough to have civil political discussions without arguments erupting, derailing the thread.

I hope you don’t think I’m being disrespectful and get where I’m coming from. Possibly if I get enough answers from a variety of users confirming there isn’t a libertarian nation, I’ll ask how libertarians have formed their beliefs. But that is a different thread.

@cockswain That’s fine that you’re not looking for critiques or even a discussion of Libertarianism. If you’re only looking for an answer to “Are there any Libertarian governments?” then that question has already been answered and the answer is no. Sorry but that’s the answer to your question. The end. There’s not any more to it.

Well, what if a libertarian thinks there is?

@cockswain

I linked to the article because as has already been mentioned, no libertarian governments exist, and the article explains some reasons why this is so.. I think I originally found it in a discussion of this same question on another forum.

@cockswain

“Well, what if a libertarian thinks there is?”

Such as?

I doubt any Libertarian would say that any place, anywhere, anytime even comes anywhere close to being base on Libertarian ideology let alone there being a functioning Libertarian government somewhere but if you can find one I would be interested in hearing what they have to say about it.

Hypothetically, what if Cyanotic Wasp or Lucille believe there is currently a government in which there personal philosophies are better displayed than in the US. I would like to know which nation they believe it is and how that nation functions.

Getting the answer “no” doesn’t mean I’ve immediately accepted that as the answer. That would mean I need to immediately accept that you and @lillycoyote are familiar with every government on the planet. While that may be possible and true, I don’t know it to be true and would be foolish to accept that answer immediately and feel this has been resolved. If I get more answers saying “no”, I’ll believe that is likely the answer (but can’t be certain of course)

@lillycoyote I am interested in hearing that, that’s why I asked. I don’t know the answer to what they think and am no expert on this.

There really aren’t that many governments on the planet, depending on how you define things. Fewer than 200. It’s not that much to know. You don’t have to accept no as an answer. I wish you the best of luck in “getting to yes” though. I’ll check back and see how you do but I have given the only answer I have to give. Anyway, my friend the wasp seems to be weighing in here as we speak so I will cede my remaining time to the Gentleman in Blue… :-) Oops, I thought that was cyanoticwasp composing but I was wrong. I’m still out of here. Oh it is him the big faker! I recognize the dog and the user name pretty transparent. LOL.

@cockswain

To answer the limited question that you asked, I’m not aware of any “very” libertarian countries in existence today. The Heritage Foundation & Wall Street Journal do have a pretty well established Index of Economic Freedom that ranks countries by various metrics that they explain on the website. And just because they measure “economic freedom” on that scale doesn’t necessarily say much about their political freedom.

But it’s a start, anyway.

There are Libertarian movements in dozens of countries, but none have full power.

If memory serves, South Korea comes close.

Not current, but Spain during the Spanish Civil War had a variety of “libertarian socialist” city-states set up. Unfortunately, the fascists won due to their support from Hitler and Mussolini. But of course, that was well before the term libertarian was coopted. It’s used rather differently in the U.S. than elsewhere.