From: phil osborn (philosborn@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Mar 25 2000 - 22:48:47 MST
>From: "Cynthia" <cyn386@flash.net>>Subject: Hated rulers
>Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 16:11:27 -0800
>
> > There's also the question of whether the indiginous population would
> > welcome the reinstatement of imperialist external rule. Most of those
> > countries worked hard to throw off the yoke of Western colonialism.
> > Economically many countries are worse off, but it would be a terrible
> > blow to their pride to ask for the hated rulers to come back in and
> > start running things again.
>
>If you have an apartment house that you aren't managing well, you can hire
>a
>management company to do it for you. There are cities that contract out
>ambulance services, garbage collection, and even fire fighting services, in
>order to save money. Why not contract out the entire government to a large
>corporation who could manage the country professionally?
>
>If this idea caught on, then corporations would have to compete against
>each
>other to win bids. If countries adopted this idea, government would be
>reduced
>to the boring task of keeping the streets clean, and making the trains run
>on
>time.
>
There are historical precedents - the famed East India Corporation, for one
very large scale and enduring example. They didn't do particularly worse
than the natives in many or most cases, I suspect, but they did function as
an arm of British Imperialism. When all else failed, you called in the
navy. There is another case worthy of note, however.
In the New Hebrides, for about one-hundred years there was joint rule
divided between the British, French and natives. If you had a legal issue,
you could pick which court you wanted it tried in. If opposing parties
chose a different one, then there were procedures to handle joint
proceedings. Such arrangements are also standard within the arbitration
community. What I'm suggesting is that it may not be necessary for ONE
corporation/trust/co-op/Mondragon-style organization to centralize all
decision-making power. A devolution to decentralized competition, so long
as a basic framework of rules is followed, may be more effecient and less
productive of special-interest problems.
My own solution - just to put it out there again - is to first go for a
universal contract.
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