6 ms·

Ok, super basic question: What does it mean to "buy" a sovereign nation? - from whom do you buy it? If you write a big check to the government of Nauru, does t

by abeppu 3y ago

Ok, super basic question: What does it mean to "buy" a sovereign nation? - from whom do you buy it? If you write a big check to the government of Nauru, does that government even have the ability to "sell" the country? And if the government was trying to do things above board, who do the funds actually go to? - what do you get in exchange for your money? E.g. the government of Nauru doesn't own all the land in Nauru, does it? - what happens to the existing citizens of Nauru? Do they continue to be citizens of a country which is just "owned" by some guy? Or are they now somehow stateless trespassers? - what legal structure remain to recognize "ownership" of a country by a private party? Does "owning" a country mean that its prior legal system is no longer in place? If someone (e.g. a group of maybe-formerly citizens of Nauru) tried to sue over this "sale", in what court could that happen? Or does the defunct state just lock the government buildings, stop paying any judges, and SBF flies in a private security army? Also, I'd think when we're still in the crescendo of the climate disaster, a low-lying small island nation is maybe a bad place to bunker down? Just from the standpoint of vulnerability to rising seas and storm surges etc.

bragr 3y ago
>What does it mean to "buy" a sovereign nation? It basically means you are an absolute monarch, even if you don't use that title. The whole country and everything in it being the personal property of the sovereign sounds weird now, but that's basically how everything was until the invention of the modern concept of the state and constitutional monarchies. >from whom do you buy it? Presumably the current government and you'd sign basically like a treaty I'd assume? No idea who get's the money. The fair thing would be for all citizens to get a share, but the world isn't usually fair. As for the remaining questions, at that point you'd be the sovereign so they are all kind of irrelevant because the answers are whatever you say. Citizenship, property, rights, courts, government services these are all just concepts defined by the law, and you are the law at the point.
- abeppu 3y ago
  > The whole country and everything in it being the personal property of the sovereign sounds weird now, but that's basically how everything was until the invention of the modern concept of the state and constitutional monarchies. I think a central tension here is that today we think of governments and legal systems as providing the framework in which the market and transactions can take place. You and I can sign a contract for some transaction, and we can understand the legal system which may be used if we have some kind of dispute. A transaction that seeks to effectively remove that legal framework entirely does seem like it pushes you back to maintaining power though the same means as absolute monarchs (by having a loyal army). > Presumably the current government and you'd sign basically like a treaty I'd assume? Even this concept seems broken to me; ordinarily a treaty is an agreement which binds its participants to its terms going forward, but here we're imaging that the government ceases to exist and therefore has no behavior which can comply or fail to comply with those terms? But fundamentally, it does sound like the government of Nauru would not be empowered to "sell" Nauru; it does not own "the whole country and everything in it" and cannot sell it.

by abeppu 3y ago

bragr 3y ago

>What does it mean to "buy" a sovereign nation? It basically means you are an absolute monarch, even if you don't use that title. The whole country and everything in it being the personal property of the sovereign sounds weird now, but that's basically how everything was until the invention of the modern concept of the state and constitutional monarchies. >from whom do you buy it? Presumably the current government and you'd sign basically like a treaty I'd assume? No idea who get's the money. The fair thing would be for all citizens to get a share, but the world isn't usually fair. As for the remaining questions, at that point you'd be the sovereign so they are all kind of irrelevant because the answers are whatever you say. Citizenship, property, rights, courts, government services these are all just concepts defined by the law, and you are the law at the point.

abeppu 3y ago
> The whole country and everything in it being the personal property of the sovereign sounds weird now, but that's basically how everything was until the invention of the modern concept of the state and constitutional monarchies. I think a central tension here is that today we think of governments and legal systems as providing the framework in which the market and transactions can take place. You and I can sign a contract for some transaction, and we can understand the legal system which may be used if we have some kind of dispute. A transaction that seeks to effectively remove that legal framework entirely does seem like it pushes you back to maintaining power though the same means as absolute monarchs (by having a loyal army). > Presumably the current government and you'd sign basically like a treaty I'd assume? Even this concept seems broken to me; ordinarily a treaty is an agreement which binds its participants to its terms going forward, but here we're imaging that the government ceases to exist and therefore has no behavior which can comply or fail to comply with those terms? But fundamentally, it does sound like the government of Nauru would not be empowered to "sell" Nauru; it does not own "the whole country and everything in it" and cannot sell it.