So in this world alliances have assets that they control directly. They also have individuals managing these assets and the alliance on their behalf. These officials are typically uncompensated for their efforts. However, does this make sense? Is there a better model we could be following?
In real life, government officials draw wages from said government as compensation for their time and effort, for the same reasons employees of private enterprises draw wages. The principle reason is that
So with all the various acts of cheating, there has been a continuous thread running throughout, which is the question of alliance responsibility. Because in this world alliances have their own assets separate from those of individual nations, there is a question of how much of a duty they have to use those assets in compliance with higher standards (i.e., the rules of the game). Of course, no one is going to claim that alliances should be able to cheat, but the matter is a fair bit more complex
Taxes are a powerful force. In this world, taxes are the only way alliances can physically impose policy on their members without expelling them. Alliances have the power, if they so choose, to seize all net income and all resource production from every member, forever. That is an incredible power, but of course alliances hardly ever use the vast power afforded to them. The question is what can we learn about alliances from taxes?
I will argue that just about everything one needs to know abo
In the 5th Century BCE, a number of Greek city-states led by Athens founded an alliance that later came to be known as the Delian League. Athens at this time was a powerful maritime state, which controlled a thalassocracy stretching across the Aegean Sea and eventually into the Black Sea. The name is actually an anachronism attached to the alliance by later historians and is derived from the place where the alliance would meet and where the league's treasury was initially held: the island of D
While in reality, I'm not as full of wisdom as the legendarily wise King Solomon, I figured every blog needs a punny or otherwise amusing title, so I went with The Wisdom of Solomon. Periodically, I'll release a volume containing some (I hope) interesting musings on PW for you all to enjoy (or not, as the case may be).
I encourage debate and comments, and you'll find that I have no problem engaging in some good old fashion logical argumentation. This means that I will admit when I'm inco
