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A Man’s Island Is His Castle

by West Virginia Rebel

Is the ocean the next frontier?

Can sovereignty be literally constructed? Is there a market for governance?

The Seasteading Institute’s website explains that it is promoting seasteading

Because the world needs a new frontier, a place where those who are dissatisfied with our current civilization can go to build a different (and hopefully better) one.

Currently, it is very difficult to experiment with alternative social systems on a small scale. Countries are so enormous that no individual can make much difference in how they work, and the powers-that-be are deeply entrenched. Seasteaders believe that government shouldn’t be like the cellphone or operating system industries, with few choices and high customer-lock-in. Instead, they envision something more like web 2.0, where many small governments serve many niche markets, a dynamic system where small groups experiment, and everyone copies what works, discards what doesn’t, and remixes the remainder to try again.

[Emphasis added.]

This view of “many small governments serving niche markets” echoes with the ethos of networked economy.  And it also brings to mind an era of social experimentation:

Grand imagery aside, the writer (and international law scholar) China Mieville argues that the driving force may be a bit more pedantic: getting out of paying your taxes.

Well, there’s that. But it could be a novel way to find out what “International waters” really means. Of course some rules still apply:

So what is a well-intentioned libertarian to do? For one thing, I would suggest ditching the sovereignty talk.  You are not going to found a new country. You will be within the regulatory sphere of an existing state. Live with it. Instead, negotiate an agreement that makes TaxFreeLand some type of free trade zone in whichever country’s whose flag you are flying.  You will have to accept that there are certain things you won’t be able to do. So drug running, money laundering, illicit data caches–all potentially lucrative enterprises for a would-be country that, face it, has no land and is just a glorified platform–are no longer good economic development opportunities. Also, keep in mind that your actions could affect the treaty obligations of the country whose flag you are flying. So, hello human rights reporting requirements! Hello, international intellectual property rules!  You, like the rest of your flag-country, are enmeshed in a web of international regulation. You can’t opt-out by setting-up a cross between an oil derrick and the Love Boat.

At present, the notion of setting up your own sea state may just be the wishful thinking of a few eccentrics who can afford it. But there could come a time when seagoing habitats want to form their own autonomous communities. Sovereignity-it may not be just for landlubbers anymore.

Comments

Posted by on 07/19/08 at 06:06 PM from

This probably wouldn’t work on any major scale.  If they remain small larger economies/governments will force seasteads to follow the global line if the seasteads want to trade.  Seasteads will probably have to trade at some point. 

If the seasteads get into illegal activities, larger governments/economies will attack them. 

This would only work with small communal hippy groups that don’t mind eating seaweed all their lives. 

The other way it would work is with a small group of professionals acting more like a corporation.  So long as they don’t get significant enough to be threatening, and provide a useful service they could make it. 

One of the reasons separatist groups never last long is because they are full of anti-social misfits who can’t cooperate with others to any significant degree.

Posted by on 07/19/08 at 10:20 PM from

I definitely see “seasteading” happening sometime in the future.  Modern technology certainly allows something to be constructed.  It would just take the will of a person or group with the resources and drive to make it happen.  Security is obviously an issue, but even this challenge can be met with the right resources.  Certainly such a place may not be able to stand up to large navies and such, but could fairly easily stop pirates.  Frankly it wouldn’t be much different than any other small island nation.

What’s clear to me, though, is that it really wouldn’t be possible to disengage from the international system.  However, it certainly is the case that it would provide an opportunity to politically start from scratch and engineer a new society.  If its done carefully, as considering the investment, it certainly would, it could really be a successful concept.

Posted by on 07/19/08 at 10:25 PM from

I think the likeliest scenario is not one of political exodus, but commercialism.  Someone like Carnival would construct a permanent luxury resort, which would essentially be an authoritarian system which fuses government and corporation.  It reminds me of Vegas casinos, where aside from “rendering unto Caesar” by following laws and paying taxes, it can pretty much do as it pleases.

Posted by on 07/19/08 at 10:28 PM from

The other likely scenario is tied in with the idea of a space elevator.  Locating such a project at sea is much easier from an engineering standpoint, so it’ll either be a multinational treaty organization or a territory of its sponsor state, and wouldn’t have the political “sexiness” of sovereignty.

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