The proportional argument is relevant insofar as one is interested in the efficacy of legal prohibitions on slavery. If slavery was legal in the 21st century, do you not think the situation would be much worse than it is now?
If slavery was legal in the 21st century, do you not think the situation would be much worse than it is now?
I don’t think we can draw this conclusion. For one, we don’t have any kind of control. However, looking at other illegal trades like the drug war, I don’t think there is any good reason to assume laws to be effective. It seems that things like urbanization and ending poverty are the major factors here, but I’m certainly not an expert nor have I yet had time to look at the literature.
If, say, the volume of human trafficking before and after the introduction of legislation outlawing it fell sharply, I would consider such laws successful. I doubt good numbers exist, but I haven’t had the time to look for them yet.
This comment doesn’t seem completely silly when read as referring only to the legal abolition of slavery in undeveloped, backwater countries at the end of the twentieth century. But it’s not the only reading that makes sense given context of the discussion.
Historically there existed societies that were well-developed by the standards of their respective periods and had a strong rule of law and could effectively prohibit slavery but still chose not to. In fact, in one such nation, not too long ago, slavery was abolished rather abruptly. I heard there was a huge civil war over the entire business which suggests to me that in that particular country the laws could be (and eventually were) effectively enforced.
If developed, stable societies didn’t choose to abandon slavery over the last 150 years or so, the situation today would be much worse and we don’t need any kind of control to draw that conclusion.
The proportional argument is relevant insofar as one is interested in the efficacy of legal prohibitions on slavery. If slavery was legal in the 21st century, do you not think the situation would be much worse than it is now?
I don’t think we can draw this conclusion. For one, we don’t have any kind of control. However, looking at other illegal trades like the drug war, I don’t think there is any good reason to assume laws to be effective. It seems that things like urbanization and ending poverty are the major factors here, but I’m certainly not an expert nor have I yet had time to look at the literature.
If, say, the volume of human trafficking before and after the introduction of legislation outlawing it fell sharply, I would consider such laws successful. I doubt good numbers exist, but I haven’t had the time to look for them yet.
This comment doesn’t seem completely silly when read as referring only to the legal abolition of slavery in undeveloped, backwater countries at the end of the twentieth century. But it’s not the only reading that makes sense given context of the discussion.
Historically there existed societies that were well-developed by the standards of their respective periods and had a strong rule of law and could effectively prohibit slavery but still chose not to. In fact, in one such nation, not too long ago, slavery was abolished rather abruptly. I heard there was a huge civil war over the entire business which suggests to me that in that particular country the laws could be (and eventually were) effectively enforced.
If developed, stable societies didn’t choose to abandon slavery over the last 150 years or so, the situation today would be much worse and we don’t need any kind of control to draw that conclusion.