CmdrWilkens wrote:SW.com:
"This became the Corporate Sector, a section of space governed not by the Republic or the Empire that followed, but instead run by big business."
Seems pretty clear to me that they are stating that the Corporate Sector was self governing body set up under the auspices of Republic law (much as the Corporate Sector continued tofunciton under the Empire). Unless you claim that "...gove3rned not by the Republic" means that the Republic ran the scene I don't see how you can claim they weren't autonomous to the same degree as they would be under the Empire.
As noted elsewhere, the Databank appears to have confused the Corporate Sector with the Expansion Region; the Expansion Region was "originally an experiment in corporate-controlled space", wherein the corporations themselves "had strict control of communication and transportation"; the Region was a self-governing corporatist polity, subject to the Republic but not Republican law. In this, the Expansion Region was exactly analogous to the later Corporate Sector.
However, the Databank's statement regarding the Corporate Sector is incorrect. The
Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook very explicitly states
In the Corporate Sector, the Republic took a much more active role than in the Expansion Region. The Republic placed itself squarely between the companies and their workers. A full naval sector group was deployed to the Corporate Sector with a dual purpose. The primary concern was protecting the civil rights and freedoms of those who chose to work and live in the Sector. The secondary concern was to make sure that the systems were responsibly managed: companies were not allowed to destroy entire planets for a few extra credits. The companies would have to operate in such a manner as to preserve the basic integrity of each world's natural ecosphere.
Furthermore, note that the Galactic Corporate Policy League – comprehending the Tagge Company, Merr-Sonn Mil/Sci, Ayelixe/Krongbing Textiles, Millennium Entertainments, Bank of the Core, Chiewab Amalgamated Pharmaceuticals Company, Kuat Drive Yards, Rendili StarDrive, Cybot Galactica, and the Karflo Corporation – included four companies explicitly stated to have invested in the Republic's Corporate Sector (viz., TaggeCo., Merr-Sonn, Cybot Galactica, and Bank of the Core), and the GCPL was stated to have "resented prohibitions against slavery, world-gouge mining and other "altruistic idiocies""; the implication is quite clear that these "altruistic idiocies" were restrictions applied as to the Corporate Sector as elsewhere.
(In fact, the fact that these companies resented the prohibitions against such practices means that these statutes were enforced far more conscientiously in the Corporate Sector than elsewhere: the Mining Guild is known to have engaged in gouge mining, and slavery very openly existed in the Outer Rim Territories.)
In contrast, as outlined by Mr. Horne's
Corporate Sector text, the Corporate Sector Authority was proposed by the Lord Tagge as "the sole owner, employer, government, and military of the region", and that because it would "be responsible for maintaining order and policing the region, there would be no investment in the region by the Empire"; the Corporate Sector Charter called for "a special non-interference region, separate and autonomous from the surrounding Empire", a "limited free market fief", completely free of "materials restrictions, often invoked during martial law in the Empire" and equally free of "content supervision over advertising and media". There would be no "ecological or social policy and the Authority could maintain its own control over the fief worlds".
In fact, the
Imperial Sourcebook makes mention of the Galactic Empire's numerous client states, "regions of space almost entirely controlled by another economic or political entity, yet ultimately loyal and subservient to the Empire" and states that the "Corporate Sector, under the control of the Corporate Sector Authority, is one such client state, as is the infamous area of the galaxy known as Hutt Space".
It is clear from the facts in evidence that whatever degree of self-government afforded the Corporate Sector by the Galactic Republic, it was not at all comparable to the independence and autonomy of the Corporate Sector under the CSA and the Empire. The former was a special-purpose region of space governed by the Republic; for all intents and purposes, the CSA was an immediate vassal of the Galactic Emperor (a comparison given especial accuracy by the fact that the CSA is a corporation, that is, an artificial person under law).
CmdrWilkens wrote:Publius: "At its start, the Corporate Sector encompassed only several hundred systems, carefully chosen by the Republic for their lack of native, sentient life. But as the profits began to swell, so did the territory. By the time of the Empire, the Corporate Sector ballooned to include nearly 30,000 stars."
As you said the Corporate Sector STARTED at only a few hundred. HOWEVER by the time of the Empire it numbered 30,000. This means BEFORE the inception of the CSA under Imperial auspices there were already 30,000 stars, that's what "by the time of" means.
"By the time of" is not synonymous with "before". In fact, any time period at all during the existence Empire can be correctly referred to as being "by the time of the Empire"; still, your interpretation of the text here is a valid one. Unfortunately, it is an incorrect one, given the totality of the evidence: Mr. Horne's
Corporate Sector text states explicitly that "Baron Tagge, informal leader of the League, formulated a plan centered on changing the way the Corporate Sector was administered" and that he "proposed that the region of space known as the Corporate Sector be expanded to include nearly 30,000 unclaimed stars"; given that it was also the Lord Tagge that "proposed that a new corporation, the Corporate Sector Authority, be formed", it is clear that the Sector's expansion was part and parcel of the reconstitution, as approved by the Galactic Emperor.
CmdrWilkens wrote:How do you justify the logical disconect between the two? I've simply taken it to mean the Republic was just as invovled as the Empire was later on (under both governments the CS was suppossed to obey the laws of the Republic/Empire but police its own affairs). The only difference seems to be that under the CSA there was an independent military rather than a Republic Sector Group...that's it.
The evidence does not admit of such an interpretation. The Republic was heavily involved in the government of the Corporate Sector, passed and enforced legislation regarding it, and supervised operations within it. The Empire has little to no involvement in the management of the Corporate Sector, and even surrendered the right to military and naval operations, and to censorship and information control within its borders. The degree of political involvement in the two versions is considerably different.
The Republic's Corporate Sector was an area of space whose star systems could be leased or purchased by various and sundry individual corporations directly from the Republic; there is no indication of any kind of any sort of collective corporatist government of the Sector. There were taxes paid by the investing corporations, and uniform laws applied throughout; labour's rights were guarded by the Republican security forces. The Empire's Corporate Sector was exclusively administered and wholly owned by the CSA, a monopoly owning and operating all business ventures in the Sector and employing all personnel. There were no taxes within the Sector, nor did the shareholding sponsors pay any taxes (the CSA itself paid an annual tribute to HIM Treasury); conspiracy to form a trade syndicate was one of the most serious criminal offences in the penal code. The character of commerce in the two versions is considerably different.
In short, sir, the Empire's Corporate Sector is a fundamentally and radically different entity than the Republic's; the differences between the two are far more comprehensive and essential than the mere addition of an independent military and starfleet. The similarities between the two are no more than superficial, the inaccurate and ambiguous claims of the Databank notwithstanding.
PUBLIUS
