The Hidden Power Podcast S2 Ep 17: Check 16 – Government – Purpose

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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