Read Online The Pirate Organization: Lessons From the Fringes of Capitalism by Rodolphe Durand, Jean-Philippe Vergne - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rodolphe Durand, Jean-Philippe Vergne
Tags: General, Economics, Business & Economics, Economic History, Free Enterprise, Organizational Behavior, Strategic planning
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structure, its riskiness, and so forth.
We are tempted to reverse this logic and see the pirate organization as the consequence of the wide-reaching presence of more democratic, more modern, and more egalitarian principles in society. In a way, the banishment of the pirate organization is not the reason why it establishes different principles for living and distribution. Rather, the reverse is true. The pirate organization is pushed to the fringes because it creates dissonant rules for living and alternative theories of ownership in the gray areas that have yet to be normalized. The poor treatment of merchant marine sailors, the slave trade, inequality in growing revenues, undue appropriation of profits by military force, the weakening of monarchic authority, and the dissemination of Enlightenment ideas—all these could just as easily be the reasons behind the exodus of a band of sailors and the rise of liberalist ideas about property and trade that were held by doctors and captains.
Furthermore, if universal economic principles were dictating how pirates organize themselves and act, we should observe quite a homogeneous pirate organization across the globe. However, although the pirate organization publicly contests everywhere the appropriation of gray areas, it takes on different forms in different parts of the world. For instance, a pirate fleet could range from a dozen ships in the Caribbean islands to hundreds of ships in Asia. Also, codes differ from one region to another. Hence, absent some other political and institutional motivations, it is hard to understand why the same universal economic rationality would yield different outcomes in different seas.
Despite its flaws, an economic analysis can help to explain the existence and operations of the pirate organization. Analyzing the relations between means, chain of command, and rules for distributing booty is indispensable and very instructive. The pirate organization needs ships to sail along the gray areas of an expanding world. It needs men and resources to continue its activities. It has to broadcast the public cause it defends, which is that of a legitimate expropriation of the sovereign and its allied corporations, rendered necessary, according to pirates, when the latter ignore the broader interests of the community.
In spite of it all, we think that a complete analysis of the pirate organization needs to go beyond a purely economic perspective because it is economic logic that the pirate organization fights against. We need other explanations. Because the pirate organization thrives on the fringes of partially uncharted territories, it participates in their normalization, albeit indirectly. The pirate organization does not hide within the interworking of the system. It stands on the surface, flies a recognizable flag, catches people’s attention, and arouses the fury of sovereign-protected owners. It meddles in the gray areas and keeps on countering organizations of the milieu at every turn. The pirate organization is truly a force that acts out against capitalistic overcoding. It tries to clear the paths of incessantly repeated normalization but keeps advocating publicly for changes in perspective.
Chapter Eight
THE PIRATE ORGANIZATION ON THE AIRWAVES
Piracy on the airwaves is a form of anarchy .
—Hugh Jenkins, president of the Labour Communications Committee (UK), 1966
The BBC: now enjoying an international reputation, the British Broadcasting Corporation has long been the sworn enemy of a series of illegal companies previously known as “pirate radio stations.” 1 The first radio broadcasts created a new, uncharted territory for capitalism to expand into. While in the aftermath of World War I, “the media experienced immense popularity, … most of its basic principles—its technical characteristics, its daily use, its standards, its regulations and perhaps, above all, its entire economy—remained to be determined.” 2
The
We are tempted to reverse this logic and see the pirate organization as the consequence of the wide-reaching presence of more democratic, more modern, and more egalitarian principles in society. In a way, the banishment of the pirate organization is not the reason why it establishes different principles for living and distribution. Rather, the reverse is true. The pirate organization is pushed to the fringes because it creates dissonant rules for living and alternative theories of ownership in the gray areas that have yet to be normalized. The poor treatment of merchant marine sailors, the slave trade, inequality in growing revenues, undue appropriation of profits by military force, the weakening of monarchic authority, and the dissemination of Enlightenment ideas—all these could just as easily be the reasons behind the exodus of a band of sailors and the rise of liberalist ideas about property and trade that were held by doctors and captains.
Furthermore, if universal economic principles were dictating how pirates organize themselves and act, we should observe quite a homogeneous pirate organization across the globe. However, although the pirate organization publicly contests everywhere the appropriation of gray areas, it takes on different forms in different parts of the world. For instance, a pirate fleet could range from a dozen ships in the Caribbean islands to hundreds of ships in Asia. Also, codes differ from one region to another. Hence, absent some other political and institutional motivations, it is hard to understand why the same universal economic rationality would yield different outcomes in different seas.
Despite its flaws, an economic analysis can help to explain the existence and operations of the pirate organization. Analyzing the relations between means, chain of command, and rules for distributing booty is indispensable and very instructive. The pirate organization needs ships to sail along the gray areas of an expanding world. It needs men and resources to continue its activities. It has to broadcast the public cause it defends, which is that of a legitimate expropriation of the sovereign and its allied corporations, rendered necessary, according to pirates, when the latter ignore the broader interests of the community.
In spite of it all, we think that a complete analysis of the pirate organization needs to go beyond a purely economic perspective because it is economic logic that the pirate organization fights against. We need other explanations. Because the pirate organization thrives on the fringes of partially uncharted territories, it participates in their normalization, albeit indirectly. The pirate organization does not hide within the interworking of the system. It stands on the surface, flies a recognizable flag, catches people’s attention, and arouses the fury of sovereign-protected owners. It meddles in the gray areas and keeps on countering organizations of the milieu at every turn. The pirate organization is truly a force that acts out against capitalistic overcoding. It tries to clear the paths of incessantly repeated normalization but keeps advocating publicly for changes in perspective.
Chapter Eight
THE PIRATE ORGANIZATION ON THE AIRWAVES
Piracy on the airwaves is a form of anarchy .
—Hugh Jenkins, president of the Labour Communications Committee (UK), 1966
The BBC: now enjoying an international reputation, the British Broadcasting Corporation has long been the sworn enemy of a series of illegal companies previously known as “pirate radio stations.” 1 The first radio broadcasts created a new, uncharted territory for capitalism to expand into. While in the aftermath of World War I, “the media experienced immense popularity, … most of its basic principles—its technical characteristics, its daily use, its standards, its regulations and perhaps, above all, its entire economy—remained to be determined.” 2
The
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