From the comments: All of the Bad Things that democratic governments do

06/28/202006/25/2020 Brandon Christensen Comments anarchy, Chhay Lin Lim, democracy, Mass Man, meritocracy

My general point has to do with this anti-democratic argument:
[…] where are the masses to stand up against war, bank bailouts, taxation, police aggression etc?
These are all Bad Things that democratic governments do, but they are also Bad Things that all governments do. And, in turn, these Bad Things are much less prevalent in democratic societies than they are in non-democratic societies.
In fact, it is only in democratic societies that you can complain about these Bad Things. It is only in democratic societies that you can do something about these Bad Things (even if it’s just blog-ranting).
This simple observation leads me to conclude that anti-democratic libertarians have it back asswards when it comes to democracy. Democracy is a byproduct of liberty. Maybe anarchy would lead to even less “war, bank bailouts, taxation, police aggression etc,” but as of now it is in democracies that these Bad Things have been made less prevalent.
Anti-democratic libertarians aren’t thinking on the margin when it comes to democracy. (Hence the dogmatism you find in certain anarcho-capitalist circles.)

This is from yours truly, in another dialogue with Chhay Lin on democracies, anarchies, and meritocracies. Read it from the top!

Nightcap

06/27/202006/20/2020 Brandon Christensen Links authoritarianism, bullshit jobs, bureaucracy, hierarchy

Back in Brazil: bureaucracy Bruno Gonçalves Rosi, NOL
Turkey at the start of one-man rule Barry Stocker, NOL
Government isn’t the only problem Rick Weber, NOL
Urging Cambodians to critique their culture, Chhay Lin Lim, NOL

From the comments: Microstates and military protection

06/27/202006/25/2020 Brandon Christensen Comments Chhay Lin Lim, economic growth, microstates, military protection, rent seeking, state sovereignty

I took a look at the table Easterly & Kraay provided in the paper that you cited (here is an ungated pdf; it’s on pg 22) and all of the rich small states save for The Bahamas (which is 50 miles away from Florida) enjoy military protection from larger polities.
Bahrain and Qatar have the US Navy looking after them, Iceland is in NATO, Bermuda is a Crown Colony, and Luxembourg is nestled comfortably in between France and Germany (and people say the EU is worthless!). If you throw Macau and Hong Kong into the mix you’re looking at a well-protected group of microstates.
It’d be very interesting to see how empirically robust this observation is, but I suspect it won’t be done because most people who focus on microstates tend to have a soft spot for them. To acknowledge the deep intertwinement that successful microstates have with larger polities is to acknowledge the prominence that incoherence and messiness enjoy when it comes to existence of states and the issue of sovereignty.

This is from yours truly, in a dialogue with Chhay Lin on microstates and economic development. Read the whole thing from the top!

Nightcap

06/26/202006/20/2020 Brandon Christensen Links affirmative action, checks and balances, factions, federalism

The importance of understanding causal pathways (Affirmative Action) Michelangelo Landgrave, NOL
Legal silences Ethan Blevins, NOL
Party politics and foreign policy in Brazil’s early history Bruno Gonçalves Rosi, NOL
Immigration and states’ rights Rick Weber, NOL

Vacation links (Friday)

06/26/202006/25/2020 Brandon Christensen Links Brazil, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Korea

Nightcap

06/25/202006/18/2020 Brandon Christensen Links Antigone, John Fortescue, John Rawls, Marsilius

Expanding the Liberty Canon: John Fortescue on the Laws and Government of England Barry Stocker, NOL
Rawls, Antigone and the tragic irony of norms Aris Trantidis, NOL
Expanding the Liberty Canon: Marsilius of Padua on the Defence of civic Peace Barry Stocker, NOL
John Rawls had good reason to be a reticent socialist and political liberal Nick Cowen, NOL

Nightcap

06/24/202006/18/2020 Brandon Christensen Links administrative law, authoritarianism, autocracy, citizenship

Defending Political Liberty in an Administered World Barry Stocker, NOL
The legacy of autocratic rule in China Mark Koyama, NOL
Role of a Citizen in Hegemonic Authoritarianism Shree Agnihotri, NOL
From the Comments: Ottoman autocracy, Turkish liberty Barry Stocker, NOL

Hazony’s nation-state versus Christensen’s federation

06/24/202006/20/2020 Brandon Christensen Culture, Politics European Union, federation, Israel, nation-building, nation-state, nationalism, United States, Yoram Hazony

Yoram Hazony’s 2018 book praising the nation-state has garnered so much attention that I thought it wasn’t worth reading. Arnold Kling changed my mind. I’ve been reading through it, and I don’t think there’s much in the book that I can originally criticize.

The one thing I’ll say that others have not is that Hazony’s book is not the best defense of the status quo and the Westphalian state system out there. It’s certainly the most popular, but definitely not the best. The best defense of the status quo still goes to fellow Notewriter Edwin’s 2011 article in the Independent Review: “Hayekian Spontaneous Order and the International Balance of Power.”

Hazony’s book is a defense of Israel more than it is a defense of the abstract nation-state. Hazony’s best argument (“Israel”) has already been identified numerous times elsewhere. It goes like this: the Holocaust happened because the Jews in mid-20th century Europe had nowhere to go in a world defined by nationalism. Two competing arguments arose from this realization. The Israelis took one route (“nation-state”), and the Europeans took another (“confederation”). Many Jews believe that the Israelis are correct and the Europeans are wrong.

My logic follows from this fact as thus: the EU has plenty of problems but nothing on the scale of the Gaza Strip or the constant threat of annihilation by hostile neighbors (and rival nation-states).

The European Union and Israel are thus case studies for two different arguments, much like North and South Korea or East and West Germany. The EU has been bad, so bad in fact that the British have voted to leave, but not so bad that there has been any genocide or mass violence or, indeed, interstate wars within its jurisdiction. Israel has been good, so good in fact that it now has one of the highest standards of living in the world, but not so good that it avoided creating something as awful as the Gaza Strip or making enemies out of every single one of its neighbors.

To me this is a no-brainer. The Europeans were correct and the Israelis are wrong. To me, Israelis (Jewish and Arab) would be much better off living under the jurisdiction of the United States or even the European Union rather than Israel’s. They’d all be safer, too.