tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post1503723309315137508..comments2023-10-16T11:28:03.544+00:00Comments on Anomaly UK: Bureaucracy and PowerAnomaly UKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04780148789321563441noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post-42103081169682939712013-09-10T10:14:15.905+00:002013-09-10T10:14:15.905+00:00As a retired bureaucrat, I have to submit that thg...As a retired bureaucrat, I have to submit that thge greates virtue of a modern buewacracy is that anyone has a chance of getting into it... never mind whether he is handsome, or right-spoused, or right-casted, for that m,atter. As the middle classes creep up the affluence ladder, their children are going out of the job market (they are into spending their poppa's savings), and the hungry poor are getting in to the vacated positions... better than aristocracy, theocracy, mobocracy.Dilip Kumar PJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17390278418601144242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post-9064531122464725652013-07-27T23:28:09.265+00:002013-07-27T23:28:09.265+00:00Bureaucracy is not aristocracy even when independe...Bureaucracy is not aristocracy even when independent of the government.<br /><br />Indeed especially when independent of the government.<br /><br />While each aristocrat was apt to do as he damn well pleased, and getting them all moving in the same direction was like herding cats, bureaucrats work by consensus. Big difference.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post-78736109451342361812013-07-20T08:42:30.361+00:002013-07-20T08:42:30.361+00:00No, not an aristocratic system.
The problem is ru...No, not an aristocratic system.<br /><br />The problem is rule by consensus. In an aristocratic system, each aristocrat is independent. In a bureaucratic system, to get anything done requires consensus, and consensus is always dominated by the evil and the insane. <a href="http://blog.jim.com/politics/stultum-facit-fortuna.html" rel="nofollow">Consensus leads to the madness of crowds, not the wisdom of crowds.</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post-88192178241553866572013-07-19T12:56:19.418+00:002013-07-19T12:56:19.418+00:00Problem is privileges families tend to prefer to s...Problem is privileges families tend to prefer to stay home and enjoy life in their estates, delegating work (state administration in this case) to subordinates which they choose on merit. So you have commoners running the country again. <br /><br />Japan has this comical story of Emperors being supplanted by their officials, the officials become an aristocratic family, hire officials, these officials then take over, and in 200 generations you have 5 layers of leisurely nobles controlled by the real power holders.spandrellhttp://bloodyshovel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post-36799100525830692932013-07-18T20:53:13.230+00:002013-07-18T20:53:13.230+00:00That sounds about right; a bureaucracy can be cont...That sounds about right; a bureaucracy can be controlled by a strong ruler, but in the long run that tends to be the exception.<br /><br />So, back to "Aristocracy works well when they do have most of the wealth of the country. Now the state has it, so bureaucrats do as they please": the idea of a renewed aristocracy is that the meritocratic bureaucracy is replaced with privileged families performing the same functions.<br /><br />We haven't seen that for a couple of centuries because the prevailing belief has been that it's unjust. But is it unachievable?Anomaly UKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04780148789321563441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8205333.post-22181913310453784382013-07-18T11:18:14.161+00:002013-07-18T11:18:14.161+00:00Well I am familiar with the history of China and J...Well I am familiar with the history of China and Japan, which is also a history of bureaucratic rule creeping in every single time, until there's a military coup and things start over. But the civil service always wins in the end.<br /><br />I am no expert in organization theory, but it seems to me that once the bureaucracy grows beyond a certain size, it becomes impossible to control from above. The independence of government agencies seems to have grown related to their size and power.<br /><br />Democracies find it hard to control the bureaucracy because the politicians are short-lived, but monarchies or big empires have trouble controlling them too, because the monarch mostly can't be bothered.<br />spandrellhttp://bloodyshovel.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com