History Main / LibertariansInSpace

* Rapture from the ''Franchise/BioShock'' series is a terrestrial version of this, built under the oceans rather than space.

* In the backstory of Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Literature/SongOfDistantEarth'', it's mentioned that before the end, various factions, religions and nationalities sent their own seedships into space to both escape the impending apocalypse and build their own independent societies. The protagonists at one point muse whether any of those attempts had also survived.

* In the backstory of Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''Literature/SongsOfDistantEarth'', it's mentioned that before the end, various factions, religions and nationalities sent their own seedships into space to both escape the impending apocalypse and build their own independent societies. The protagonists at one point muse whether any of those attempts had also survived.

* Creator/IanMcDonald's "Luna: New Moon". The moon only has contract law and no criminal law.

* Ian McDonald's "Luna: New Moon". The moon only has contract law and no criminal law.

* Creator/EricFrankRussell's ''The Great Explosion'' features two unusual versions. The first, a former PenalColony, has developed a ruthless, dog-eat-dog society based on a mixture of ''laissez faire'' and might-makes right. The second is a quasi-socialist libertarian utopia based on passive resistance, civil disobedience and the teachings of Ghandi. Their motto is "Freedom--I Won't!"

* Rapture from the ''Franchise/BioShock'' series is a version of this, build under the oceans instead of in space.

* A recurring theme on the {{Gundam}} Franchise, with (usually) the Earth or one of the most powerful colonies around wanting absolute control and the rest of the colonies wanting independence.

* RobertHeinlein novels that fit this mold
** RedPlanet: The Earth-controlled Mars Company administration vs. the Mars colonists
** BetweenPlanets: The Federation (all Earth governments) vs. Venus colonists
** TheMoonIsAHarshMistress: The Earth-controlled Lunar Authority vs. the lunar colonists
** The future history arc of novels involving Lazarus Long, beginning with ''Methuselah's Children'', depict an Earth that persecutes certain families for their hereditary longevity. These families end up fleeing the planet and setting up the free-love Libertarian utopias that would become a [[AuthorAppeal Heinlein]] [[AuthorTract trademark]].
*** ''TimeEnoughForLove'' presented [[AuthorAvatar Lazarus Long]]'s opinion that a planet became "too crowded" when they started using ID cards, and the Chairman of Secundus somewhat agreed with him.

* {{Eric Frank Russell}}'s ''The Great Explosion'' features two unusual versions. The first, a former PenalColony, has developed a ruthless, dog-eat-dog society based on a mixture of ''laissez faire'' and might-makes right. The second is a quasi-socialist libertarian utopia based on passive resistance, civil disobedience and the teachings of Ghandi. Their motto is "Freedom--I Won't!"

* ''{{Babylon 5}}'' touches on this idea somewhat, in that Earth slowly ([[FromBadToWorse and then more quickly]]) becomes an oppressive place, and also more heavy-handed toward its offworld colonies. Mars probably takes the brunt of this, but it is implied that even [[spoiler: pre-coup]], most colonies are at least taxed very heavily by Earth, and labor strikes are banned (in theory, only when they endanger a military base or operation. In practice, after the Earth-Minbari War, the law authorizing the suppression of strikes has been invoked more often than that). [=EarthGov=]'s intrusions affected the Babylon 5 station adversely as well--until Sheridan [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome decisively declares the station's independence.]]]]

* ''{{Firefly}}'' and ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' give us Browncoats. Earth is [[EarthThatWas not present anymore]] in this Verse, so the Core Worlds fill the repressive role, and the Browncoats are heroic separatists who want to preserve their freedom.

* {{H Beam Piper}}'s Lone Star Planet/A Planet For Texans was colonized by people who are trying to live the romantic ideal of Texas, IN SPACE!. Everyone goes armed, and killing a politician is not illegal unless the politician's heirs can convince the court he didn't need killing (this is rare). Four Day Planet, sometimes bound in the same volume, may count as well. The colony was started as a company town by a mining corporation which abandoned it, but the hardiest and most independent colonists stayed to make a go of it.

* Rapture from the BioShock series is a version of this build under the oceans instead of in space

* ''{{Firefly}}'' and ''{{Serenity}}'' give us Browncoats. Earth is [[EarthThatWas not present anymore]] in this Verse, so the Core Worlds fill the repressive role, and the Browncoats are heroic separatists who want to preserve their freedom.

* The Dorsai of the ''ChildeCycle'', a planet with [[OneProductPlanet the greatest mercenaries among the Fourteen Worlds]]. It's people are fiercely independent, free as long they do nothing to harm and respect their freedoms. Interestingly, the Dorsai has problems from this - their government have almost little power compared to the other Worlds.
* In ''{{Gradisil}}'', many of Earth's rich have migrated to space habitats, collectively known as "Upland".
* Allen Steele's ''{{Coyote}}'' novels are about the settlement of a planet in the 47 Ursae Majoris system. The original settlement expedition was originally state-sponsored by a repressive government that took over the USA (called the United Republic of America), but the crew was infiltrated by dissident scientists and technicians who "stole" the ship upon its launch. The new colony was largely democratic with the general freedom of the frontier, but was subsequently beset by attempts of other repressive Earthly governments to take it over, or overpopulate it too quickly.

* Earth is implied to be a teeming dystopia in the sci-fi thriller {{Saturn 3}}, compared to the Saturn 3 outpost (presumably Tethys) where Adam and Alex tweak low-gravity crops for peak crop yield. Until the murderous Benson arrives, Adam and Alex have that moon all to themselves.

* DavidWeber has used this as backstory a couple of times, especially in the HonorHarrington universe, where whole planets have been settled by, respectively, artists, American ranchers, gangsters, genetically engineered humans, and a group who believed technology was Evil. The Solarian League is the giant, sprawling nation who looks down on other star nations, OFS is the grasping military arm of the League, and there's a lot of corrupt planetary corporations doing things behind the scenes.

* Creator/PaulMcAuley's novels ''The Quiet War'' and ''Gardens of the Sun'' pit an eclectic variety of small colonies in the Solar System against the growing aggressions of reactionary and "Gaian", ecologically [[KnightTemplar templaresque]] Earth [[SpaceFillingEmpire superstates]] Greater Brazil and the European Union--whose main objections are to the wild transhumanist genetic engineering freely allowed in the colonies.

* Paul McAuley's novels ''The Quiet War'' and ''Gardens of the Sun'' pit an eclectic variety of small colonies in the Solar System against the growing aggressions of reactionary and "Gaian", ecologically [[KnightTemplar templaresque]] Earth [[SpaceFillingEmpire superstates]] Greater Brazil and the European Union--whose main objections are to the wild transhumanist genetic engineering freely allowed in the colonies.

* S.A. Swann's Series/HostileTakeover trilogy takes place primarily on the planet Bakunin, where any kind of social organization that doesn't call itself a government is allowed.

* S.A. Swann's Hostile Takeover trilogy takes place primarily on the planet Bakunin, where any kind of social organization that doesn't call itself a government is allowed.

* ''{{Babylon 5}}'' touches on this idea somewhat, in that Earth slowly ([[FromBadToWorse and then more quickly]]) becomes an oppressive place, and also more heavy-handed toward its offworld colonies. Mars probably takes the brunt of this, but it is implied that even [[spoiler: pre-coup]], most colonies are at least taxed very heavily by Earth, and labor strikes are banned. EarthGov's intrusions affected the Babylon 5 station adversely as well--until Sheridan [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome decisively declares the station's independence.]]]]

* a recurring theme on the {{Gundam}} Franchise, with (usually) the Earth or one of the most powerful colonies around wanting absolute control and the rest of the colonies wanting independence.

Earth itself becomes [[TheOldCountry the Old Country]], backwards, repressive, ossified in its ways, a place where individualism is cramped. Other planets, moons, asteroids, or artificial space habitats become refuges for misfits, rugged individualists, visionary entrepreneurs, transhumanists, and so on. This often results in TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: Earth
becomes a threat to these new islands of freedom in some way, and our heroes must overcome great odds in defending their newfound freeholds.

This trope can cover capital-L Libertarianism, personal and civil liberties plus laissez-faire capitalism, as Heinlein's works often did, but the general idea is more lower-case-l libertarianism, open to broader conceptions of liberty that needn't be, and indeed may challenge the hyper-capitalist variety.

This can be related to PrivatelyOwnedSociety if we're talking the big-L type of Libertarianism and this society is presented as an ideal, rather than a form of dystopia.
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!!Examples:

[[AC: Anime and Manga]]
* a recurring theme on the {{Gundam}} Franchise, with (usually) the Earth or one of the most powerful colonies around wanting absolute control and the rest of the colonies wanting independence.

[[AC: Film]]

[[AC:Literature]]

* Kim Stanley Robinson's ''Mars Trilogy'' sees Earth [[MegaCorp multinational corporations]] trying to muscle in on the emerging Martian society, whose people want to be left alone to build their new world their own way.
* RobertHeinlein novels that fit this mold
** RedPlanet: The Earth-controlled Mars Company administration vs. the Mars colonists
** BetweenPlanets: The Federation (all Earth governments) vs. Venus colonists
** TheMoonIsAHarshMistress: The Earth-controlled Lunar Authority vs. the lunar colonists
** The future history arc of novels involving Lazarus Long, beginning with ''Methuselah's Children'', depict an Earth that persecutes certain families for their hereditary longevity. These families end up fleeing the planet and setting up the free-love Libertarian utopias that would become a [[AuthorAppeal Heinlein]] [[AuthorTract trademark]].

* In Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/AllianceUnion'' series features the loosely tied Alliance of independent merchants and traders which split off from the technocratic Union that declared independence from Earth. Also, Cyteen, the capital of the Union, was originally colonized by a group of scientists and engineers fleeing increasingly oppressive earth.
* Creator/JohnVarley's ''Literature/SteelBeach'' features a Heinlein-inspired Libertarian group trying to build a {{Generation Ship|s}}. The ship is even named ''The Creator/RobertAHeinlein''.
* {{Eric Frank Russell}}'s ''The Great Explosion'' features two unusual versions. The first, a former PenalColony, has developed a ruthless, dog-eat-dog society based on a mixture of ''laissez faire'' and might-makes right. The second is a quasi-socialist libertarian utopia based on passive resistance, civil disobedience and the teachings of Ghandi. Their motto is "Freedom--I Won't!"
* DavidWeber has used this as backstory a couple of times, especially in the HonorHarrington universe, where whole planets have been settled by, respectively, artists, American ranchers, gangsters, genetically engineered humans, and a group who believed technology was Evil. The Solarian League is the giant, sprawling nation who looks down on other star nations, OFS is the grasping military arm of the League, and there's a lot of corrupt planetary corporations doing things behind the scenes.
* Michael Z. Williamson's ''Freehold'' duology is about the Freehold of Grainne, a libertarian's paradise in comparison to the corrupt and dying United Nations-controlled Earth.
* The Dorsai of the ''ChildeCycle'', a planet with [[OneProductPlanet the greatest mercenaries among the Fourteen Worlds]]. It's people are fiercely independent, free as long they do nothing to harm and respect their freedoms. Interestingly, the Dorsai has problems from this - their government have almost little power compared to the other Worlds.
* In ''{{Gradisil}}'', many of Earth's rich have migrated to space habitats, collectively known as "Upland".
* Allen Steele's ''{{Coyote}}'' novels are about the settlement of a planet in the 47 Ursae Majoris system. The original settlement expedition was originally state-sponsored by a repressive government that took over the USA (called the United Republic of America), but the crew was infiltrated by dissident scientists and technicians who "stole" the ship upon its launch. The new colony was largely democratic with the general freedom of the frontier, but was subsequently beset by attempts of other repressive Earthly governments to take it over, or overpopulate it too quickly.
* In F. Paul Wilson's La Nague Federation series there are two planets that live by differing strains of a philosophy called KYFHO (Keep Your Fucking Hands Off). Every inhabitant of Flint is [[ProudWarriorRace armed to the teeth]] and deadly, while their philosophical siblings on Tolive are {{Actual Pacifist}}s
* {{H Beam Piper}}'s Lone Star Planet/A Planet For Texans was colonized by people who are trying to live the romantic ideal of Texas, IN SPACE!. Everyone goes armed, and killing a politician is not illegal unless the politician's heirs can convince the court he didn't need killing (this is rare). Four Day Planet, sometimes bound in the same volume, may count as well. The colony was started as a company town by a mining corporation which abandoned it, but the hardiest and most independent colonists stayed to make a go of it.

[[AC: Live Action TV]]

* ''{{Firefly}}'' and ''{{Serenity}}'' give us Browncoats. Earth is [[EarthThatWas not present anymore]] in this Verse, so the Core Worlds fill the repressive role, and the Browncoats are heroic separatists who want to preserve their freedom.

[[AC:Music]]
* The [[Music/JeffersonAirplane Jefferson Starship]]'s {{Hugo|Award}}-nominated concept album ''Blows Against the Empire'' features a [[RagTagBandOfMisfits rag-tag band of hippies]] who hijack a starship and flee an increasingly oppressive Earth in search of "free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music".

[[AC: Tabletop Games]]
* ''{{GURPS}}: TranshumanSpace'': the Duncanites, derived from the Ares Conspiracy that initiated the terraforming of Mars and were chased off by the colonizing powers for eco-terrorism, which turned them off the idea of "statism". Divided into the "Green Duncanites" who are attempting the same thing on Europa, and the "Red Duncanites" also known as the "Trojan Mafia".
* ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' has the Autonomist Alliance throughout the Belt and Outer System (except Jupiter). The Extropians are anarcho-capitalists, the Anarchists are anarcho-collectivists, the Scum are space gypsies, and the Titanian Commonwealth is a state with a gift economy similar to the Anarchists'. While the different sub-factions disagree on many things they formed TheAlliance to fight off the Jovian Junta and Planetary Consortium.

[[AC:Video Games]]
* Rapture from the BioShock series is a version of this build under the oceans instead of in space

[[AC: Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/EscapeFromTerra'' Ceres and a number of other asteroids are anarcho-capitalist. In an early arc they fight off an attempted invasion by the straw socialist United World of earth.

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* Earth is implied to be a teeming dystopia in the sci-fi thriller {{Saturn 3}}, compared to the Saturn 3 outpost (presumably Tethys) where Adam and Alex tweak low-gravity crops for peak crop yield. Until the murderous Benson arrives, Adam and Alex have that moon all to themselves.
[[AC:Literature]]

* Paul McAuley's novels ''The Quiet War'' and ''Gardens of the Sun'' pit an eclectic variety of small colonies in the Solar System against the growing aggressions of reactionary and "Gaian", ecologically [[KnightTemplar templaresque]] Earth [[SpaceFillingEmpire superstates]] Greater Brazil and the European Union--whose main objections are to the wild transhumanist genetic engineering freely allowed in the colonies.

*** ''TimeEnoughForLove'' presented [[AuthorAvatar Lazarus Long]]'s opinion that a planet became "too crowded" when they started using ID cards, and the Chairman of Secundus somewhat agreed with him.

* S.A. Swann's Hostile Takeover trilogy takes place primarily on the planet Bakunin, where any kind of social organization that doesn't call itself a government is allowed.
[[AC: Live Action TV]]

* ''{{Babylon 5}}'' touches on this idea somewhat, in that Earth slowly ([[FromBadToWorse and then more quickly]]) becomes an oppressive place, and also more heavy-handed toward its offworld colonies. Mars probably takes the brunt of this, but it is implied that even [[spoiler: pre-coup]], most colonies are at least taxed very heavily by Earth, and labor strikes are banned. EarthGov's intrusions affected the Babylon 5 station adversely as well--until Sheridan [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome decisively declares the station's independence.]]]]

Earth itself becomes [[TheOldCountry the Old Country]], backwards, repressive, ossified in its ways, or simply a place where individualism is cramped by too much crowding. Objects in space (other planets, moons, asteroids, or artificial space habitats) become the refuge for misfits, "rugged individualists", visionary entrepreneurs, transhumanists, etc. Often results in TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: Earth
and her military forces (and/or corrupt multinational corporations) become a threat to these new islands of freedom in some way, and our heroes must overcome great odds in defending their newfound freeholds.

This trope can cover capital-L Libertarianism (personal and civil liberties plus laissez-faire capitalism), as Heinlein's works often did, but the general idea is more lower-case-l libertarianism, open to broader conceptions of liberty that needn't be (and indeed may challenge) the hyper-capitalist variety. The off-Earth colonies can be places where an individual is less restricted by either government or powerful private interests (or both) which hamper the individual on Earth.

Can be related to PrivatelyOwnedSociety if we're talking the big-L type of Libertarianism (and this society is presented as an ideal, rather than a form of dystopia as it perhaps just as often is).