State Controlled Commodities

            In reading Salt and the Colombian State, Rosenthal pushes to explain the formation of an economically viable political state through the monopolization of a commodity. I found this theme of the state having the main agency over the production and distribution of the commodity, obviously in this case being salt, and in many ways the labor force behind it to be interesting and something that has not been tackled fully in past readings. We have read about colonially controlled trade markets but the actual formation of a state using a commodity as its foundation has been something only touched on. The cost-control element of the economic chain for salt was also fascinating to me, as it put pressure on the labor force, while also allowing them to remain viable in their ability to survive through salt production. Though I do not regard the commodity as the center of this book, it is still important in the writing of the narrative. The salt allowed for the state to become profitable but in the same vein, exert control over the working class population. So the money being made went hand-in-hand with whoever could control the market and the production.

            The book itself however seems in a way far too narrow in my view for the argument being made. I did not feel convinced by the evidence given to believe that the Colombian state rose from its conceived weaknesses on the shoulders of a successful salt market. The perception seemed to be was the importance of the single commodity of salt, and the ability for the state to control the market was the primary element of a modern Colombia, however there was much that seemed to be left out regarding other elements of the Colombian, and world economy, which, for me, weakened Rosenthal’s overall argument. Overall, it was an interested lens on how state control over a commodity chain and the regional market system could effect politics, power, and the well-being of a state and its people.