Abstract
This article examines the role, scale, and ideological impact of explicitly libertarian political parties across five national contexts: the United States, Germany, Poland, Brazil, and Argentina. Even though libertarian parties remain electorally marginal in most countries, their contributions and ‘added value’ extends beyond vote shares or legislative representation. Through a comparative and multi-dimensional approach founded in both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the article analyses structural constraints, cultural narratives, electoral performances, media representations, and internal strategic tensions faced by these parties. The findings suggest that libertarian parties often operate more as ideological disruptors than as conventional electoral actors – shaping debates on taxation, state power, decentralisation, and personal autonomy, even when they fail to secure office. The paper argues that their influence lies less in institutional control and more in agenda-setting and discursive presence.
Keywords
- libertarianism
- anarcho-capitalism
- politics
- democracy
- freedom
- political parties
- electoral performance
- ideological purity
- party systems
- comparative politics