John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
4.0 out of 5 stars Trying to Do the Wrong Thing Righter — It's Not the State, Stupid!, June 2, 2014
I am reading Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better, a gift from a former naval officer who shares my outrage over the US Government being 50% waste across the board. This book looks interesting but insufficient. As most of us now know, government is one of eight major action and information tribes (the other seven are academic, civil society including labor and religion, commerce especially small business, law enforcement, media, military, and non-governmental/non-profit organizations (NGO).
Trying to fix the state in isolation is a classic example of what Buckminster Fuller said we should never do (don't try to fix a dysfunctional system, instead create a new system that displaces it) and what Russell Ackoff would label another attempt to do the wrong thing righter, instead of doing the right thing.
The “right thing” in my view is hybrid governance that relies on transparency, truth, and trust — an autonomous internet that cannot be shut down or censored; liberation technology including free energy that can no longer be repressed, open source everything (cloud, data, hardware, software, spectrum, standards, etcetera) because that is the only form that is affordable, inter-operable, and scalable, and so on.
So buy the book and enjoy — it is, like the failed attempts to define “inclusive capitalism,” dead on arrival. On balance I believe Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better is the better book, and also recommend the following additional books:
Global Public Policy: Governing without Government?
Critical Choices. The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance
High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years To Solve Them
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility–Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
Best wishes to all,
Robert David STEELE Vivas
INTELLIGENCE FOR EARTH: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity, & Sustainability
