Seeing Like a State Author James C. Scott on Cato Unbound

Don't miss the current issue of Cato Unbound, which explores the ideas in author James C. Scott's essential book, Seeing Like a State. Scott's opening essay, "The Trouble With the View From Above," captures many of the ideas from the book.

I stumbled across Scott when I was researching my book on identification policy, Identity Crisis. As Scott observes, naming systems for people have been altered over time from vernacular to formal, the latter serving the needs of governments and large...