[TML] Off The Books In A Lawless Startown

[Richard Aiken]

Hey All,

I'm currently reading "Off The Books: The Underground Economy of the
Urban Poor" by Sudhir Venkatesh.  It's a detailed look at the society
and economics of a poor Black neighborhood in south Chicago.  Someone
who posts regularly to the JTAS boards recommended it to me.  I
started out thinking it thinking it might have some good tips for
modelling for the displaced Vargr enclaves in the Spinward Marches.

But after getting into it a bit, I think it would make a very good
model for the typical Traveller startown.  These areas are always
noted as fairly lawless, but exactly why that is so has always been
left a bit vague.  As seen in this book, the ghetto has to look to its
own ways to provide public safety, in part because regular law
enforcement is seldom seen and not trusted when it is.  I think this
matches well with the standard startown, where local police go in
squads, when they go at all.

The reason for lack of police enforcement in real-world ghettos is
well understood: the residents lack political power, as they still
suffer serious discrimination by the majority population.  At first
glance, the startown wouldn't fit into this description.  You would
need some other reason for a lack of police.

But if you think about it, the ghetto reason can apply to startowns
with very little change.  After all, the startown is populated largely
by those originally from off-world, with their strange ways and
appearances.  It wouldn't even take a particularly zenophobic world to
make interfacing difficult.  If all the major off-world business
transactions are handled by local government agencies or large
corporations (and usually headquartered in the capital), only the
crumbs and leavings are left for the minor startown merchants to
handle.

Finally, the mere existence of an extraterritorial Imperial starport
can fuel a tendency toward official neglect by the local government.
Very few people - and politicians least of all - feel comfortable
admitting that anything is beyond their power or influence.
Politician also like to avoid having more powerful entities tell them
what to do or not do, particularly if this is publicly seen.  So
rather than appear to be serving the "foreigners" in the starport,
they try to ignore anything to do with the area.

Letting law enforcement lapse is the easiest way to show their
independence.  Since the Imperium can't control anything past the
extrality line (save for transports to/from the port itself), it can't
make them provide enforcement.  In the view of local politicians,
letting the Imperials suffer from a lawless regions right on their
doorstep gives them a little of their own back.  One can easily
imagine local politicos thinking: "If the off-worlders in the startown
can't handle their own problems, they can just go back onto the
starport where they belong."

Comments?

-- 
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein