Special Report

The Vice Issue

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues,” Napoleon Bonaparte said. But for all his world-conquering ambition, the French ruler never envisioned an empire like this. Where once the commerce in humanity’s baser instincts was confined to the shadows, today the business of vice — both legitimate and altogether illegal — ...

| September 3, 2013, 1:49 PM

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues,” Napoleon Bonaparte said. But for all his world-conquering ambition, the French ruler never envisioned an empire like this. Where once the commerce in humanity’s baser instincts was confined to the shadows, today the business of vice — both legitimate and altogether illegal — is a global enterprise, corporatized and commoditized by private firms, governments, and nonstate actors alike. From drugs to gambling to booze, FP‘s first vice issue takes a hard look at the business of sin. Whether anyone can stop the marketing of decadence and debauchery isn’t really the question. It’s whether anyone still wants to.

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