This was the obvious conclusion. The experiment is governance, not "governance plus the enormous practical issues of living on the high seas". I'd guess it's n

This was the obvious conclusion. The experiment is governance, not "governance plus the enormous practical issues of living on the high seas". I'd guess it's not stable unless you assume all the other trappings of state (like the monopoly on violence) and then you're just some uppity proto-nation practically begging to get subsumed into a more powerful entity.