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That framing seems poorly equipped to handle things like feudalism.
by oneoff786 4y ago
That framing seems poorly equipped to handle things like feudalism.
- Octoth0rpe 4y agoHm. I've always thought of feudalism as a form of state ownership wrt to property/means of production, though there are definitely additional considerations re: other rights; the state in that case being the feudal estate.
- tolciho 4y agoCharles Boix in "Political Order and Inequality" posits that feudalism is a particular form of "the looters are in charge, because they can be" as contrasted with the more rare republic where there is more equality among the power-sharing producers. Republics can involve various shades of "republic at home, looters abroad" e.g. the Athens of Perilces. Republics are not very common nor large nor long-lived, at least up until the 18th century or so. Military technology and who can afford it is a big factor. More to the original topic, republics per Boix must prevent looting from the producers; this includes both external agents--"special military operations", barbarians on the frontier, foreign commercial agents who banana your republic, etc--and internal agents, who could be those welfare queens, men out of a job and certainly not looking (I mean why would you??), or plutocrats making out like bandits.