What is government actually for?
The purpose of government is to produce beneficial change
One of our central concerns in this podcast is why government is so ineffective – why don’t governments work? And while many roads have led to preferential lobbying, there is arguably a deeper, darker reason even than that: aimlessness. The result? Bureaucracy, shiftlessness, the famous treacle that blinds and obstructs us in our endeavours. But institutions – and individuals – are capable of great things, if they act in concert – which is to say, if they act with a sense of purpose.
What is the point of government? How do we fit into this as individuals? This principle may seem self-evident, but as we find out, it certainly requires to be reiterated.
Talking points:
- It’s not as simple as it looks
- Hobbs and the pessimistic view
- How do we fit into this?
- Orchestrating change
- Needs and myths of leadership
- Clarity, purpose and mud
- Beneficial change
- Without purpose, there are various phenomena that present themselves
- Privileging rules over purpose
- What the purpose becomes in the absence purpose
- Publicity, personal power, ideology, peers groups
- Maturity and government
- Breaking the inheritance
- It worked for Germany and Japan post WWII
- Cybernetic governance
- Modelling beneficial change
Links:
Sasha Swire – British government is amateur (Guardian review)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/20/sasha-swire-british-politics-is-totally-amateur-thats-why-its-so-sexy-and-toxic
Robert Cialdini – Influence
https://www.theguardian.com/business-to-business/2018/mar/09/how-to-persuade-people-hint-not-by-telling-them-theyre-stupid
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