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.
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.