Whaling and Disorder: Law in the Context of Complex Incentive Structures - Term Paper Example

Whaling and Disorder: Law in the Context of Complex Incentive Structures Law needs to be seen not as the principal mean of controlling disorder but as a necessary portion of a reinforcing web of incentives to prevent disorder and improve the circumstances of whales. Disorder and threats to whale populations came about through incentive structures in place. Law has the ability to not only impose new incentives but also modify the existing incentive structures. For the purposes of this essay I will divide incentive structures into three broad categories: economics, culture and law. First I will describe these incentive structures, and then apply them to the problems of disorder and distressed whale populations. An examination of both the problem of disorder and distressed whale populations will show that law acts as an incentive modifier, while the propelling forces of culture and economics are the incentives that are truly primary to creating or discouraging action. The driving forces behind actions can be roughly divided into two categories: Cultural incentives and economic incentives. Cultural incentives are motivations instilled by cultural institutions and the socialization process. Cultural incentives are things like values, traditions, and beliefs regarding duties. Economic incentives are motivations that are based in pursuit profit, and perceived ownership rights. It is important to note that whether the incentives are based upon accurate perceptions and beliefs is irrelevant, so long as they provide motivation. Law differs fundamentally from these two forces. It acts through other incentives. Law acts by shaping or sanctioning cultural forces, changing economic incentives or resorting to the use of force. As I examine both the application of law to disorder and whaling it will become clear how law acts as a modifier of the underlying incentives. Disorder generally falls into two broad categories, people acting in ways that are socially undesirable and people occupying places that either the authorities or property owners consider undesirable. Loitering people are usually there to do business, either illicit of licit, or simply homeless. Economic incentives are behind both businesses and homelessness. The law has begun to act not as a criminal punishment and enforcement means but through and on behalf of the perceived stake holders in the community, the property owners. Trespass affidavits empower the Police to act on behalf of property owners and issue trespass notices. When acting on trespass affidavits the police effectively banish a person from a certain location or group of locations. The business owners issuing the affidavits simply want their businesses to run smoothly and have disorder, as they view it, prevented. They have little regard for concepts such as guilt, innocence, or personal rights. Property owners are acting to enforce what they view are their economic rights. The law simply sides with the property owners and provides resources, in the form of uniformed officers, to help. This lowers the cost of enforcing their property rights. Simultaneously, by banning people from certain areas it disrupts their ability to transact business. Law, by enforcing and sanctioning the use of trespass affidavits, seeks to modify the incentive structures in place rather than supplant them with outside dominance and force. While disorder, without the law The plight of the whales is the result of economic incentives. The history of whaling has been one of economic exploitation. Whether for their meat, oil or other extractable resources whales have been hunted for more than 800 years. The profit generated by the sale of whale meat provides a continued incentive for the hunting of whales, particularly for Japan. While it is illegal to commercially hunt whales, the meat from whales killed for scientific purposes can be sold on the open market. Economic incentives for the continuation of whaling are clearly present. International law has sought to curb these incentives by not allowing for the commercial harvest per se. The effect of the law has certainly been powerful attempting to limit global whaling. The cultures of the whaling nations combined with profit motives continue to threaten whale populations seeing the law as only a disincentive or hurdle that needs be crossed to satisfy economic and cultural drives. Third actors, such as the Sea Shepherd Organization are driven not by a profit motive but by cultural factors. A desire to protect the environment, in particular intelligent sea life, motivates Sea Shepherd to intervene in whaling activities on behalf of stated international law. The tactics of Sea Shepherd recognize and seek to disrupt the profitability of whaling activities. These tactics have included the use of mild acids that make the meat unusable. The law in this context gives credence to the cultural incentives advocated by the Sea Shepherd while allowing the profit incentive to persist for whaling nations. In whaling law and compliance reflects cross cultural values as an ongoing dialogue on the issue. So long as it is a dialogue and not a fundamental undercutting of the incentives whaling will likely persist or grow. The law did not cause whales to be hunted however it has caused a shift in incentive structures reducing the world wide incentive to hunt whales by nations not financially and culturally driven to the practice. In both the cases of disorder and whaling law is just one of the incentives at play. The underlying cultural and economic incentives create and sustain both the problems involved with both whaling and disorder. While a unique and valuable tool in shaping these incentive structures, the law must act through other kinds of incentives to truly be effective and even then must compete with the organic incentive structures. References Beckett, Katherine and Herbert Steve. Banished: New Social Control in Urban America. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Carlarene, Cinnamon. Saving the Whales in the New Millennium: International Institutions, Recent Developments, and the Future of International Whaling Policies. Virginia Environmental Law Journal, Vol. 24:1. 2005. Eco-Terrorism and Piracy on the High Seas: Japanese Whaling and the Rights of Private Groups to Enforce International Conservation Law in Neutral Waters. Villanova Environmental Law Journal, Vol. XX. 2009. Read More