Dear Lars,
It’s a bit far from the topic of the thread on agency in design theory, but I want to add a note concerning a special category of con games. These involve false claims of principal actor status and the right to assign agency.
Another category involves the false attribution of principal actor status with the false assertion of agency, enabling bad actors to negotiate illegitimate agreements with false principal actors or their false agents.
The first category involves con games for selling property that doesn’t belong to the seller. The classical example in American history involved selling the Brooklyn Bridge to immigrants fresh off the boat with the promise that they could make a fortune by charging people for the right to pass over. (Those who are interested in con games should read a 2015 book by Terry Williams and Trevor B. Milton titled _The Con Men. Hustling in New York City_.)
There is a special category of these con games reserved to state actors who abuse international law for specific purposes. Imperialism and colonialism made use of this game.
The ancient empires achieved their goals by pure force. When Mesopotamia or Egypt conquered a nearby land, they simply asserted their power by force of arms. Athens and Sparta did the same, as did Macedonia and then the Romans. When Vikings wanted property or territory, they raided for it, stealing and conquering the old fashioned way.
In contrast, the British Empire grew in great part playing the kinds of games that Buckminster Fuller labeled “legally piggly.” For example, Elizabeth I chartered the British East India Company in 1600. The Company, originally chartered with a trade monopoly, slowly inserted itself into the economic and civic life of the East Indies until it was itself a quasi-state power operating under the various licenses that it exacted and sometimes extorted from local and regional rulers. By 1800, the Company had a private army twice the size of the British Army. In the late 1800s, the British government took direct control of former East India Company possessions, declaring the British Empire into existence. It took India and Pakistan nearly a century to regain independence during the era of decolonisation following the Second World War. (If you are curious about details, I recommend Shashi Tharoor’s 2018 book _Inglorious Empire. What the British Did to India_ or William Dalrymple’s 2019 book, _The Darkness_.) In this case, the conquerers kept hold of the Brooklyn Bridge rather than selling it, using force of arms to enforce an illegitimate claim based on dicey treaties.
The story of slavery is somewhat similar. In ancient times, nearly anyone could be enslaved for any number of reasons, usually based on local or national laws. When a great power conquered a people or a nation, many on the losing side expected to be enslaved by force of arms. In those days, slavery did not involve a specious legal rationale based on race.
From early modern times in Europe, slavery was imposed on conquered peoples, tribes, or individuals, usually on people deemed inferior to the conquerers. This generally involved local people in conquered territories. As Europe expanded its imperial ambitions to the Americas, the slave trade involved people whom Europeans deemed suitable for slavery. This was the fate of black people enslaved in Africa and shipped to other countries. Long after the international slave trade was forbidden or suppressed, slavery and slave markets within some nations continued, involving the families and children of enslaved people.
From time to time, the British and others also conquered territory by falsely assigning to some hapless local person the title of king, and then making a treaty with that king. The treaty would usually transfer property rights in land to its new owners, who could then use force of arms under their own law to enforce the specious claim. It’s rather like a situation in which someone might win what he claims is the deed to your house in a card game with your cousin’s nephew — and show up at your door with an army to take possession.
Another con game involves arbitrage of different tax laws between and among countries, compounded by bank secrecy laws. Wealthy individuals and corporations use these laws to avoid and evade the taxes they owe. The visible stir around the Panama Papers is but one case. The Guardian newspaper has a strong history of reporting on this kind of crime, and one may read the coverage free online. Much of this involves finding ways for principal actors to evade their responsibility under one set of laws by creating corporations and shell companies under other laws without the same responsibility. The principal actors assign agency to those companies while secretly retaining control.
This has relatively little to do with design. Nevertheless, profound issues are involved in our understanding of principal actor status, agency, and the ethical rights and obligations they involve. This also touches the design community with respect to the issue of decolonizing design. And these issues lie at the heart of economic problems that are pushing our planet into a state that less hospitable to human life and biodiversity than it once was.
Yours ,
Ken
Ken Friedman, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/ <http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/>
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| Eminent Scholar | College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning | University of Cincinnati ||| Email [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Academia https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman <https://tongji.academia.edu/KenFriedman> | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn <http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn/>
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