WEBVTT NOTE 12.02. A Typology of Intervention 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.560 2. A Typology of Intervention 2 00:00:05.560 --> 00:00:11.360 Intervention is the intrusion of aggressive physical force into society. It means the 3 00:00:11.360 --> 00:00:18.600 substitution of coercion for voluntary actions. It must be remembered that praxeologically 4 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:25.320 it makes no difference what individual or group wields this force. The economic nature 5 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:36.240 Empirically, the vast bulk of interventions are performed by states, since the state is 6 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:43.400 the only organization in society legally equipped to use violence, and since it is the only 7 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:49.160 agency that legally derives its revenue from a compulsory levy. 8 00:00:49.160 --> 00:00:55.080 It will therefore be convenient to confine our treatment to government intervention, 9 00:00:55.080 --> 00:01:02.160 Sharing in mind, however, that private individuals may illegally use force, or that government 10 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:10.360 may openly or covertly permit favored private groups to employ violence against the persons 11 00:01:10.360 --> 00:01:13.800 or property of others. 12 00:01:13.800 --> 00:01:19.040 What types of intervention can an individual or group commit? 13 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:36.040 Little or nothing has so far been done to construct a systematic typology of intervention, and economists have simply discussed such seemingly disparate actions as price control, licensing, inflation, etc. 14 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:41.660 We can, however, classify interventions into three broad categories. 15 00:01:41.660 --> 00:01:49.040 In the first place, the intervener or invader or aggressor, the individual or group that 16 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:56.440 initiates violent intervention, may command an individual subject to do or not do certain 17 00:01:56.440 --> 00:02:04.100 things when these actions directly involve the individual's person or property alone. 18 00:02:04.100 --> 00:02:10.580 In short, the intervener may restrict the subject's use of his property, where exchange 19 00:02:10.580 --> 00:02:13.740 with someone else is not involved. 20 00:02:13.740 --> 00:02:20.460 This may be called an autistic intervention, where the specific order or command involves 21 00:02:20.460 --> 00:02:23.060 only the subject himself. 22 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:31.220 Secondly, the intervener may compel an exchange between the individual subject and himself, 23 00:02:31.220 --> 00:02:34.660 or Coerce a Gift from the Subject. 24 00:02:34.660 --> 00:02:41.980 We may call this a binary intervention, since a hegemonic relation is here established between 25 00:02:41.980 --> 00:02:46.340 two people, the intervener and the subject. 26 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:55.740 Thirdly, the invader may either compel or prohibit an exchange between a pair of subjects. 27 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:59.600 Exchanges always take place between two people. 28 00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:06.240 In this case we have a triangular intervention, where a hegemonic relation is created between 29 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:12.200 the invader and a pair of actual or potential exchangers. 30 00:03:12.200 --> 00:03:18.680 All these interventions are examples of the hegemonic relation, the relation of command 31 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:28.160 and obedience, in contrast to the contractual free market relation of voluntary mutual benefit. 32 00:03:28.160 --> 00:03:34.340 Eidic intervention occurs, therefore, when the intervener coerces a subject without receiving 33 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:37.900 any good or service in return. 34 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:40.500 Simple homicide is an example. 35 00:03:40.500 --> 00:03:47.060 Another would be the compulsory enforcement or prohibition of a salute, speech, or religious 36 00:03:47.060 --> 00:03:48.580 observance. 37 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:55.780 Even if the intervener is the state, issuing an edict to all members of society, the edict 38 00:03:55.780 --> 00:04:04.020 in itself is still autistic, since the lines of force radiate, so to speak, from the state 39 00:04:04.020 --> 00:04:07.640 to each individual alone. 40 00:04:07.640 --> 00:04:12.960 Binary intervention, where the intervener forces the subject to make an exchange or 41 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:21.940 gift to the former, is exemplified in taxation, conscription, and compulsory jury service. 42 00:04:21.940 --> 00:04:29.860 Industry is another example of binary coerced exchange between master and slave. 43 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:35.940 Examples of triangular intervention, where the intervener compels or prohibits exchanges 44 00:04:35.940 --> 00:04:42.940 between sets of two other individuals, are price control and licensing. 45 00:04:42.940 --> 00:04:49.460 Under price control, the state prohibits any pair of individuals from making an exchange 46 00:04:49.460 --> 00:05:00.260 Licensing prohibits certain people from making specified exchanges with others. 47 00:05:00.260 --> 00:05:07.600 Curiously enough, writers on political economy have recognized only cases in the third category 48 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:10.140 as being intervention. 49 00:05:10.140 --> 00:05:17.420 It is understandable that economists have overlooked autistic intervention, for in truth, economics 50 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:23.700 Critics can say little about events that lie outside the monetary exchange nexus. 51 00:05:23.700 --> 00:05:28.340 There is far less excuse for the neglect of binary intervention.