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There were many times, at least during the time of colonial empires where companies would run entire towns, regions, and countries. Sometimes they provided just

There were many times, at least during the time of colonial empires where companies would run entire towns, regions, and countries. Sometimes they provided just law and order like in British American colonies, but usually they coerced pre-existing political structures and violently exploited the local populations for natural resources. The people unfortunate enough to have natural resources whose land was accessible to colonizers were either exploited or destroyed the desired resources [0] before the colonizer's ambitions could consume them too. I think I would prefer that corporations - whose interests are by nature not aligned with peoples - do not run the place, as it were. [Edit: Sorry I keep making so many additions!] [0]: "In 1620, the state of Banten, on the island of Java, cut down its pepper trees in the hope that this would induce the Dutch to leave it in Peace. When a Dutch merchant visited Maguindanao, in the southern Phillippines, in 1686, he was told, "Nutmeg and cloves can be grown here, just as in Malaku. They are not there now because the old Raja had all of them ruined before his death. He was afraid the Dutch Company would come to fight with them about it."" - Page 245 of Why Nations Fail by Daron Acermoglu, James Robinson

Chinjut 8y ago
The British East India Company being perhaps the largest, most "successful" (in an imperialistic sense, not a moral one) example of this.
jlarocco 8y ago
> There were many times, at least during the time of colonial empires where companies would run entire towns, regions, and countries. Sometimes they provided just law and order like in British American colonies, but usually they coerced pre-existing political structures and violently exploited the local populations for natural resources. The people unfortunate enough to have natural resources whose land was accessible to colonizers were either exploited or destroyed the desired resources [0] before the colonizer's ambitions could consume them too. FWIW, that type of thing still happens in the Africa and South America with oil and mining and some other resources.

Chinjut 8y ago

The British East India Company being perhaps the largest, most "successful" (in an imperialistic sense, not a moral one) example of this.

jlarocco 8y ago

> There were many times, at least during the time of colonial empires where companies would run entire towns, regions, and countries. Sometimes they provided just law and order like in British American colonies, but usually they coerced pre-existing political structures and violently exploited the local populations for natural resources. The people unfortunate enough to have natural resources whose land was accessible to colonizers were either exploited or destroyed the desired resources [0] before the colonizer's ambitions could consume them too. FWIW, that type of thing still happens in the Africa and South America with oil and mining and some other resources.