Libertarianism is the group of political philosophies which advocate minimizing coercion and emphasize freedom, liberty, and voluntary association. Libertarians generally advocate a society with significantly less government compared to most present day societies.
From these definitions it seems that liberalism has a stronger focus on equality, while libertarianism is strongly associated with small government.
Why, as Michael Lind has famously asked, are there no libertarian countries? Social democrats can point to the Nordic countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark as some sort of embodiment of their ideal.
But it is only in failed states that the market operates without regulation, where the state scarcely exists and where people (at least strong ones) behave like autonomous, self-interested beings. So there are libertarian countries but they are not countries they are failed states.
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