Associational anarchism presents a ground-breaking alternative to both liberal democracy and state socialism, derived from the ideas of Karl Marx and G. D. H. Cole. Uniting the public sphere of citizenship with the private sphere of production in a system of communal ownership, the book proposes a scheme of horizontal networks held together through libertarian politics. With no role for a centralised state, the functions of coordination and administration are fulfilled through pluralist self-governance. Political intermediation proceeds via a web of functional associations, which operate within a system of revitalised communities, while management is carried out through modes of self-regulation that embody the key anarchist values of equality, solidarity and mutual-aid. The book presents a new left-libertarian conception of liberty, bringing Marx's critique of capitalism into theoretical dialogue with Cole's guild socialist writings and the sub-schools of social anarchism.

Associational anarchism contends that liberty can be attained without passing through the mediation of self-interested employers or career politicians; a condition of freedom requires democratic access to the material means of life, where self-mastery is attained in both the productive and consumptive spheres.