Free Communities Ratings Project
So there are a dozen of projects, creating new intentional communities, private cities, micronations, autonomous zones, etc. Each with their own goals and strategies, but all share one goal in pursuing freedom through innovations in governance (or even lack there of) and economics. Despite this, I haven't seen anyone try to rate these projects, as some do have concerns or are outright sketchy, so I decided to do that. This is still a work in progress. I DO NOT endorse any of these projects. I highly recommend you to do your own research if any of these projects look interesting to you, as projects like these are going to become even more important as governments are becoming more and more corrupt.
In case you haven't noticed. Most of these projects are libertarian or anarchist in nature. That's because it seems like only libertarians are embracing the idea of micronations and start-up societies. I have listed a few non-libertarian micronations for those who disagree with or despise libertarians.
Quick Definitions
These terms may be new to some people so I will provide some quick definitions:
- Autonomous Zone - Community founded on anarchist principles.
- Intentional Community - Community where its members live with a certain goal and work towards that goal. That goal may be self-sufficency, preserving a certain culture/lifestyle, to live in harmony with nature, etc. An intentional community can be autonomous, but that's not always the case.
- Micronation - Area claimed to be an independent nation but not recognized by major nation-states or international organizations.
- Private City - City running entirely on private services, infrastructure, and utilities. Naturally, they appeal to anarcho-capitalists and other right-libertarians.
- Seastead - Floating city or nation on international waters. Can be a nation-state, city-state, private city, or autonomous zone.
The List
| Project | Type | Location | Ideology | Official Language(s) | Official Currency | Established/In Preperation | Description | Red Flags/Concerns | Additional Notes/Comments |
| Liberland | Micronation | Gornja Siga (a no man's land between Croatia and Serbia) | Classical-liberalism | English | Merit (all other currencies are allowed) | In Preperation | Quasi-libertarian micronation located on a no-man's land between Croatia and Serbia. Main selling-point is the "voluntary-tax" system where "taxes" are optional and voting power is based on how much money you give to the government (though everyone has veto power). |
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| Atlas Island | Seastead | Off the coasts of Florida | Anarcho-capitalism | English | None (all currencies/exchange mediums are valid) | In Preperation | Seasteading project with the goal of having an anarcho-capitalist city on international waters within a decade. Design plans to be based on floating docking stations where people can dock their floating homes or boats. | Official online discussions are hosted on Telegram, which isn't private. Though, they do also have a mailing list. |
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| Ethos Island | Seastead | Off the coasts of Florida | Libertarianism (can't tell which flavor) | English | ? | In Preperation | Seasteading project with a 3-step goal of having an independent city-state within 10 years. Similar to Atlas Island. |
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| Freedom Haven | Seastead | TBA | Minarchism | English | ? | In Preperation | Project to have an open-design, floating micronation that fits the Montevideo Convention's definition of a state. Unlike Atlas Island or Ethos Island, it seems to be on one floating vessel. | ||
| Liberstad | Private City | Norway | Anarcho-capitalism | English | None (all currencies/exchange mediums are valid) | Established | Private, remote settlement in Norway for ancaps, agorists, voluntaryists, etc. It's stated goal is to be a thriving community running entirely on private infrastructure. | Most of the site requires you to login in order to view so I can't do much research :( | |
| Sark | Intentional Community | Island off the coast of Normandy | Some minimalist form of libertarianism(?) | English | British Pound | Established | Self-governing island that was formerly part of the British Crown. |
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| Montelibero | Intentional Community | Montenegro | Libertarianism | English, Russian | EURMTL stablecoin | Established | An intentional community made up of mostly libertarians from the Commonwealth of Independent States. It aims to be the European equivalent to The Free State Project. Unlike the FSP, it doesn't seek to achieve these goals through voting, but rather through agorism and setting examples for other communities. | Site is mostly in Russian | |
| Somaliland | Micronation | Somalia | Islam | Somali | Somaliland shilling | Established | An unrecognized republic located in Somolia. Has been in operation since 1991. | Islam is the national religion, so don't expect much freedom there. Homosexuality is illegal for one. I've only included it because they seem to be the most successful micronation, and they have established diplomatic relations with Liberland, since both are unrecognized. | |
| Principality of Seborga | Micronation | Northwest Italy, near the French border | Constitutional Monarchy | Italian, Ligurian | Luigino | Established | Was once a feudal state in the Italian peninsula. It redeclared independence in 1963 after a local flower co-op claimed that the location should be independent again, though Italy still doesn't recognize it as an independent state. | ||
| Freetown Christiania | Autonomous Zone | Copenhagen, Denmark | Seems to be some form of market-anarchism | Danish | Danish Krone | Established | A well known autonomous commune located in a squatted military base in Copenhagen, Denmark. Most known for its open trade of cannabis which is illegal in Denmark. It's also the fourth largest tourist site in the city. | Private cars are banned | |
| Principality of Islandia | Micronation | Coffee Caye, an island in the Caribbean Sea | Democracy | English | ? | In Preperation | An island micronation founded by Gareth Johnson after purchasing the island in 2018. He claims it's the first micronation to be crowdfunded. He plans to turn the island into a paradise resort. | They seem to be more focused on the resort aspect than actual freedom or promoting a certain ideology. The micronation part seems to be something to sell more merchandise (flags, banners, etc). | |
| Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities | Autonomous Zone | Chiapas, Mexico | Neozapatismo | Spanish | Mexican Peso(?) | Established | Autonomous territories founded in 1994 after the Chiapas conflict. | Autonomous Zone has been criticized by many left-anarchists for still having markets (even if they are non-capitalist), not embracing vegetarianism or veganism, continuing the use of plastic, and deforestation | |
| Guanaja Hills | Intentional Community | Guanaja Island (Honduras) | Libertarianism/Classical-liberalism(?) | English, Spanish | Plans to be a virtual payment token | In Preperation | A project that plans to be an intentional community for freedom-oriented individuals from Europe. It also intends to be a tourist destination as well. | I can't tell if this "virtual payment token" is decentralized or not. It may not even be a cryptocurrency. | |
| The Conscious Agora | Intentional Community | Michoacán, Mexico | Voluntaryism | English | ? | In Preperation | An off-grid eco-village founded by Derrick Broze of The Conscious Resistance. Plans to be a template for and part of an extensive network of similar communities. Plans to be based on individual liberty, permaculture, and mindfulness. | Currently not accepting new members until they get the village established. | |
| Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria | Autonomous Zone | North-eastern Syria | Libertarian Socialism, Democratic Confederalism | Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac, Turkish, Adyghe | Syrian Pound | Established | A de-facto autonomous zone in Northern Syria, gained autonomy during the ongoing Syrian Civil War and Rojava conflict. | ||
| Onopolissia | Micronation | Northern Sydney, Australia | Republic | English | Polibuck | Established | A micronation in Sydney Australia. It was founded as a successor to Australland. The country boasts for being the only country to have a funicular based transport network. |
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