Hello

[Caecilian]

I think you are talking about Libertarianism (big L) as opposed to libertarian (small l). My fault for capitalising it in my original post. The big-L Libertarianism is generally the one associated with parties; whilst the small-L libertarianism refers to the political ideology itself.

I don't think that its necessarily to do with big L or small l. Its just how the term 'libertarian' is used. With qualifiers (e.g. left-libertarian, libertarian marxist etc) it can refer to a left-wing political position. But just on its own, 'libertarian' always seems to mean 'right-wing libertarian'.

If you look at the word 'anarchist' then you'll see that something very similar has happened. The term actually refers to someone who is opposed to the existence of the state; strictly speaking an 'anarchist' could be left-wing, right-wing or centrist on economic issues. However, when 'anarchist' is used without qualifiers, it always seems to indicate left-wing anarchism. With qualifiers, of course, you can get market anarchism, anarcho-capitalism etc.

The upshot of which is that if someone is described as 'libertarian', then my assumption is that it means right-wing; whereas if someone is described as 'anarchist', my assumption is that it means left-wing.

'Anarchist liberal' is interesting, though. It could refer to just about any libertarian/ anarchist position. Partly, I guess, it depends on what is meant by 'liberal', a word that is used very differently in Europe and America.