(to table of contents of FNF archives) (to start of essay)
Outline
_introduction
Border Control
Foreign Policy
Passport
Extradition
United Nations
Defense
Government Agency
Embassies, Consulates
The Worldwide Libertarian Movement
International Arms Control
Diplomatic Immunity
Secession
Conclusion
A mixed use, multiple tenant income property operated as a long-term, managed investment is not the picture many libertarians have of a libertarian nation or community. Yet it is a community, and so far as it is not subject to control by a political state, and assuming businesslike management and well-drawn leases that protect the interests of all parties, it has many or all of the characteristics that libertarians advocate for a free society. Familiar examples of such entrepreneurial communities, or "entrecoms"—also called proprietary communities—include shopping malls, hotels, rental apartment communities, medical and research centers, and mixed-use real estate complexes for which Rockefeller Center was an early prototype. None are subdivisions, but are landlease arrangements, in which the land is leased but the improvements on the land may be separately owned and maintained. The nature of the enterprise in every case is to build land value—as measured by revenue flow—by creating optimal human environment. Differences among the specialized types reflect differences in the market each tries to attract.
"Newland" is the name of a hypothetical community of this kind of such size and complexity that it bears some resemblance to a "free nation." Hence we have been invited to talk about Newland at this conference on "Foreign Relations" sponsored by the Free Nation Foundation, which seeks to understand how free nations of the future might be constituted and how they might be expected to function.
Newland actually is a proposed real estate development on leased tribal land in northwest Somalia. Its promoters will seek free port status for Newland amounting to a waiver of jurisdiction by the Republic of Somaliland for the 99-year lease period. The subject property consists of an extensive upland valley approximately the area of Luxembourg, sparsely inhabited, with access to the sea. The expectation is that it will be developed and managed by a private consortium as a long-term investment property for income.
For the purpose of this conference and for the simplicity of speaking in the present tense, Newland will be represented as already established and operating. Fourteen items commonly considered under the heading of "foreign relations" will be briefly discussed in no special order. It will be seen that the very notion of "foreign relations" is a political concept whose meaning normally is to be found in the context of national governments and, as such, has little applicability to Newland. The format will pose each item as if it were a question being answered by a resident of Newland.
Border Control
Insurance companies operating in Newland maintain service offices at our points of entry, offering visitors the various types of liability insurance they are required to have during their stay. The companies offer a variety of information services about Newland, it being very much in their interest to promote travel and residence here.
In addition to these service points, however, some border protection has been required to stop malicious infiltrators. This again is handled by the insurance companies, in whose interest it is to protect the lives and properties of their customers in Newland. They act through an insurance consortium which includes the management of Newland. The consortium in turn contracts out to one or more proprietary police forces which operate plainclothes surveillance and, when called upon, physically deport any who have entered without insurance and are unwilling or unqualified to obtain it. For public relations purposes, of course, both for the management of Newland and their own business reputation, these police are nearly invisible and have cultivated gentility and persuasion to a high degree in all their dealings—without, however, losing sight of the primary goal of the consortium and the management of Newland which is to make Newland a safe place to live.
Foreign Policy
In Newland, all "foreign policy" matters are the province of private individuals and associations of business people, sports people, arts people and the like, who relate independently to their counterparts abroad.
Passports
As a private venture, Newland can't issue passports in the narrowly accepted sense of the word. But something similar is being discussed here. There always has been and always will be need for letters of introduction, as it were, enabling people to know with whom they are dealing and whether they are credible and credit-worthy. This could be an enlargement upon credit rating services such as we already have, and it wouldn't require a physical document but could be entirely electronic. Such a rating service could greatly facilitate people doing business. A company located here in Newland might dress up its rating of individuals by arranging with the management of Newland to let it be called a passport of Newland and carry its seal. This would no doubt add some prestige—some window dressing—but it would amount to no more than that.
Since living in Newland doesn't require giving up citizenship in another country, many Newland residents find it convenient to retain the citizenship of their country of origin and to use that country's passport for travel abroad. Those without that option use a passport issued by our host country, the Republic of Somaliland.
Extradition
Extradition is not an option here in Newland, nor could it be in any other stateless nation organized on the landlease principle. It is not that extradition would be refused; there is simply no mechanism for it. By way of illustration, let's say that the United States Attorney General sought to extradite Mr. X from Newland. To whom would he appeal? The Newland proprietary authority? An adjudication company? A police agency? Any private resident or visitor to Newland?
Let's suppose he appealed first to the ultimate proprietary authority of Newland, represented by the Newland Management Company. NMC would reply that its authority does not extend beyond that spelled out in the Newland master lease agreement. The most it could do would be to expel a resident for a lease violation if such occurred. NMC might add that in this particular case the individual in question, Mr. X, isn't even its tenant. Its customers tend to be very large business organizations and investment groups. It would have to refer the matter to a sublessee, and that to a sub-sublessee, until it found someone who had a contractual relationship with Mr. X. If that someone investigated and found Mr. X satisfactorily in compliance with his lease agreement, that would end the matter. Only in the event of a specific violation could Mr. X be evicted. And even if he were evicted, he would be perfectly free to find other lodgings in Newland provided that he could maintain his several kinds of liability insurance required by the Newland master lease. Well, suppose his insurance company did cancel on him and no other was willing to write a new policy. Even in that extremity, Mr. X would still, in all likelihood, have some days of grace in which to try to satisfy the insurance requirement, and in that time he would be free to exit Newland when and how he chose—and to whatever destination.
Suppose the Attorney General then appealed to one of our private adjudication companies. He might do so, assuming their role to be similar to those of political courts in the United States, which have enforcement powers. The adjudication company would reply that judges in Newland, being merely arbitrators, are limited to making judgments; they have no authority to order or authorize that anything be done to anyone. The company of course would be glad to try the case and render a judgment, since that was its business. If the judgment were adverse, it might cause Mr. X to lose his insurance coverage, with the same result as above. The judge might well add that he could try the case only if someone brought a complaint, and the U.S. Attorney General was not a valid plaintiff. Because Newland courts don't recognize statutory law, the Attorney General could not be a party to the dispute; he had merely interposed himself between the disputants where he had no business. Mr. Y in the United States would be the one to bring the complaint.
The Attorney General, seeing himself no closer to gaining physical custody of Mr. X, might finally appeal to a private policy company doing business in Newland. The company would reply, however, that its lease, consistent with the Newland master lease, discourages the use of force in interpersonal relations and expressly forbids initiated force. Newland's first responsibility to its residents, after all, is the physical safety of all in Newland. The company would therefore face eviction for a lease violation. Moreover, since the individual it sought to constrain, Mr. X, had not harmed the company, the company, would, in addition to facing almost certain cancellation of its insurance, incur severe legal liabilities. The Attorney General would get the same answer from any other company or individual it approached in Newland.
The only way that Mr. X could be physically removed from Newland would be by his own action, if he were to place himself outside the law and protection of the community by repeatedly ignoring the court and its judgments. Only then, as a trespasser and, literally, an "outlaw," could he with impunity be abducted by anyone in Newland.
United Nations
Newland, as a private real estate development, has not asked nor has it been invited to join the United Nations. Any advantage such membership might confer on us, as residents, could be had, presumably, through our host, the Republic of Somaliland.
Defense
Defense is not a big issue here in Newland. One reason is that there is not any central control point of power that a military force could capture, since everything consists of voluntary arrangements and private agreements. The insurance consortium, which includes the management of Newland, does have a mutual defense agreement with Newland's host, the Republic of Somaliland. Now that Newland is established, however, this affords more protection to the host than it does to Newland.
Government Agency
Newland has no governing agency in the sense of a taxing or legislative body. The owner of all Newland real estate is a private corporation which, in the interest of escaping unwanted attention from the political nations of the world, has avoided taking on any of the appearance or trappings of a political government—even though, in its functional or public service aspect and in the fact that its jurisdiction is territorially defined, it bears some natural resemblance to a government.
Embassies, Consulates
Newland has no need of embassies or consulates. Their function is served by the public relations department of the management of Newland as well as by the Newland Chamber of Commerce. Should an unforeseen need arise, we Newlanders could use the services of the ambassadors and consuls of our host government, the Republic of Somaliland.
The Worldwide Libertarian Movement
Libertarian pursuits are left to individuals and voluntary associations in Newland. It would be inappropriate for the management of Newland to endorse or promote such activities—which could be construed by the nations of the world as political interference in their internal affairs.
International Arms Control
For the management of Newland to make a treaty with any nation would be for it to attempt to collectivize its residents and speak for them, and there is no provision for that in the structure of an entrecom. As to international arms control, insurance companies decide whether, or to what extent, trafficking in arms endangers the peace and security of its clients in Newland and whether to insure such activities.
Diplomatic Immunity
In a "free nation" there are no diplomatic immunities; natural law makes no exceptions for states and statesmen. On the contrary, natural law regards politicians as criminals. A Newland resident or visitor, while free to invite an employee of a foreign state, cannot guarantee that someone who believed himself to have been injured by that state would not summon the visitor into a Newland court, where he could be judged for crimes committed directly or as an accessory before or after the fact. This would, at the very least, cut short an otherwise pleasant visit.
Secession
A resident or group of residents could pull out of Newland's rule of natural law only by repudiating lease agreements, in which case they would face eviction. So long as we respect our lease agreements, we are obliged to respect natural law on which the lease agreements of Newland are based. Ultimately all in Newland, including the management of Newland, are subject to standards of reasonable behavior developed on a case by case basis by independent arbitration companies for whom a major consideration and guide is customary behavior.
On the other hand, if a group of people saw an entrepreneurial opportunity to provide superior management for an area within Newland than is now being provided, it would be to their advantage to acquire that property by lease from Newland or anyone else holding it from Newland, and to the advantage of the holders to offer it to them. "Secession" of this sort is to the advantage of all concerned. This mode of "secession" happens in Newland all the time and is the very premise of Newland's operation as a business enterprise. This is the reason why land management is highly dispersed in Newland.
Conclusion
It should be evident from the foregoing that the subject of "foreign relations" has little relevance for a private business, which has neither citizens nor subjects but only customers and whose sole concern is how best to serve those customers. When a community is organized entirely along business lines so that community services are provided exactly as any other services in the market place, then the irrelevancy of politics extends to a community or even to a "nation." D
Michael van Notten and Spencer H. MacCallum are respectively a lawyer
in Somaliland and a theoretical anthropologist in Tonopah, Nevada. Mr.
van Notten is Dutch born and, through his wife, Fleury, a member of the
Samaron Tribe of Somalia. Mr. MacCallum is the author of The Art of
Community and has contributed to many professional journals.
Bibliography and information on proprietary community administration is available from:
(702) 482-2038; 482-5897FAX
<HeathFdn@Sierra.net>.