Quote of the Week
"The sustenance of a democratic system is similar to the sustenance of an initially successful family firm. The first generation works very hard to build it up. The second generation has usually witnessed some of the struggles of the first generation and usually is able to continue the effort started by the first generation. But when the firm is turned over to the third, fourth, or fifth generation, problems can occur. Children are born already rich and without a deep understanding of the struggle that it took to build the enterprise in the first place. What took many years to build can be dissipated within a short time….I share a deep conviction that democratic systems of government are the highest forms of human governance yet developed. Yet I worry that the need for continuous civic engagement, intellectual struggle, and vigilance is not well understood in some of our mature democracies and is not transmitted to citizens and officials in new democracies….We have to avoid slipping into a naïve sense that democracy – once established – will continue on its own momentum." Elinor Ostrom 2000, The Future of Democracy
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Comments
expanding the metaphor
As closely as business and politics are intertwined, I find this quote very useful for the metaphor of family business to sustained governance. While Ostrom focuses her comment on the transition (or lack of transmission) of stable government across generations, I think the "family business" paradigm is also very useful for looking at reasons why good governance can be hard to establish-- too many vested cooks in the proverbial kitchen. With each potentially powerful group or individual seeking to establish themselves as legitimate, the greater purpose of a stable state grows diluted in the political sea of selfishness.
Speaking from a more localized perspective, Ostram's analysis provides an interesting commentary on the United States, where it seems like political engagement swings to extremes every several generations, as the draft dodgers gave way to Reaganomics, and the Bush presidency produced the huge influx of 20-something peace-keepers.
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