Going "Full Stasi" The Transnational Elite Oligarch's Way Of Keeping Control Indefinitely...

[kpete]

The Logic of the Surveillance State
2013 JUNE 9
by Ian Welsh

..................


The solution is a transnational elite, in broad agreement on the issues, who do not believe in nationalism, and who play by the same rules and ideology. If you’re all the same, if nations are just flags, if you feel more kinship for your fellow oligarchs, well then, you’re safe. There’s still competition, to be sure, but as a class, you’re secure.

That leaves the internal problem, of revolt. The worse you treat people, the more you’re scared of them. The more you clamp down. This is really, really expensive and it breaks down over generations, causing internal rot, till you can’t get the system to do anything, no matter how many levers you push.

What is being run right now is a vast experiment to see if modern technology has fixed these problems with surveillance and opporessive states. Is it cheap enough to go full Stasi, and with that level of surveillance can you keep control over the economy, keep the levers working, make people do what you want, and not all slack off and resist passively, by only going through the motions?

The oligarchs are betting that the technology has made that change. With the end of serious war between primary nations (enforced by nukes, among other things), with the creation of a transnational ruling class, and with the ability to scale surveillance, it may be possible to take and keep control indefinitely, and bypass the well understood problems of oligarchy and police and surveillance states.

........................

way more:
http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-logic-of-the-surveillance-state/

[Buzz Clik]

1. Interesting title, kpete.

It reads like the headline on the socialist newspapers you could pick on on urban college campuses back in the 70s.

[L0oniX]

2. K & R