Babel

by R.F. Kuang

Free trade. This was always the British line of argument – free trade, free competition, an equal playing field for all. Only it never ended up that way, did it? What ‘free trade’ really meant was British imperial dominance, for what was free about a trade that relied on a massive build-up of naval power to secure maritime access? When mere trading companies could wage war, assess taxes, and administer civil and criminal justice?

Of course she could support lobbying for change, as long as it was peaceful, respectable, civilized.

It is astounding, in truth, how much of academia’s perceived resource scarcity is artificially constructed.