# Libertarian authoritarianism

Libertarian authoritarianism, or libertarian-authoritarian, is a political spectrum and dimension, that has more recently been described as a dichotomy, political theory, and political formation. The spectrum is recognized in British politics, and the theory considers American and European politics.

## Political spectrum

In the 1990s, the British Journal of Sociology published research studying left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values, describing them as "two core dimensions of mass political belief", and determining that the spectrum has "for several years formed sections of the British Social Attitude Survey". The European Journal of Political Research also studied the dimension within the United Kingdom, regarding its influence in Conservative Party elections from 1979–1987. In 2005, in asserting that the British electorate has become more libertarian in recent decades, political scientist, James Tilley, described libertarian-authoritarianism as being "two major value dimensions in British politics".
In 2021, after Brexit and regarding the perceived rise of populism, Cornell International Affairs Review published research discussing libertarian-authoritarian as a dichotomy within the Conservative Party. The review theorized the utility of further study to determine whether the dichotomy coud be "useful in understanding contemporary or historical political realignments".
In the United States, The Mises Caucus which took control of the Libertarian Party in 2022, has widely been criticized by Libertarian Party members and activists for introducing right-wing authoritarian aspects into the Party.
During the 2024 election cycle members of the Mises Caucus including caucus founder and former chair Michael Heise and then-chair of the Libertarian Party Angela McArdle opted to personally endorse Donald Trump over the Libertarian Party’s own presidential nominee Chase Oliver. Chairwoman McArdle in a move that was heavily controversial within the party invited Donald Trump to speak at 2024 Libertarian National Convention.

## Political theory

In 2018, political scientist Wendy Brown, summarized libertarian authoritarianism as "a novel political formation that is an inadvertent effect of neoliberal rationality", within the context of American politics, right-wing populism, and as part of "a further reconfiguration of neoliberalism".
In 2023, The New Statesman described the fundamental basis of libertarian authoritarianism to be based in "post-truth politics", and that in the late-modern era, believers validate their opinions "with proto-scientific evidence, rumours, conspiracy theories and fake news". The British magazine described neoliberalism as an additional factor contributing towards the recent rise of the ideology, with modern adheres to the ideology including Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Javier Milei, having merged their libertarianism with their "authoritarian tendencies".
In 2025, Jacobin defined libertarian authoritarians as those who believe in the abolition of the democratic state, on the basis of its restrictions on individual freedoms, and "consider the democratic state itself, the authorities and their regulations, to be invasive and harmful". The theory has also been referenced by the Journal of European Public Policy within the framework of German politics and the COVID-19 protests.