ORGANIZATION:PART 4:POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

The Victorian state in England

Modernising theory’s argument of economic change and development being the prime factors responsible for creating a stable ,democratic political system is flawed -Samuel P Huntington

Origin of beauracratic state

The ancient agricultural state was weak in collecting revenues ,maintaining law and order and controlling internal rebellion by feudal lords. The reason for this was technological primitiveness  in weapons of war,lack of modern communication,absence of printing and dissemination of usefull knowledge. In sixteenth century Europe printing allowed knowledge to be disseminated throughout the society. This stimulated creation of new maps,exploration by large ships, discovery of new lands,development of science ,military technology,building of roads,canals,and ultimately the Industrial Revolution.With increasing military technology the kingdoms of Europe could subjugate the feudal lords and build a huge army. Simultaneously they built a large beauracracy to collect taxes required for war and a justice system to maintain law and order according to customary law. The king however was above any court of law.

     Along with the kings power the church also developed a strong hierarchy and frequently challenged the authority of kings. The kings however suppressed the church and made state power supreme,There was a constant  state of war in Europe as each kingdom made alliances to expand into neighbouring kingdoms.      The centralising action of kingdoms was a phase where the coercive power of the state  was born. Without a strong state there is no rule of law whether authoritarian or democratic .

  Urbanisation and state autonomy

  The power of king was absolute in a beauracratic state and he was not answerable to law. However with trade increasing rapidly England got gradually urbanised . By 1700AD forty percent of people in England were craftsman . With Industrial Revolution the proportion of people living in cities increased further as factories were located there. Urbanisation leads to multiple autonomous organizations independent of the state. Firstly factories have their own management systems. Education institutes,universities are mostly autonomous. Many cultural organizations for entertainment ,transport are also present in cities. Management of cities requires decision making unlike in a village with a uniform population of peasants.Hete consultation is required to coordinate various stakeholders before building a road or making a new tax. 

    As the entire nation is urbanised national level organizations form representing agglomeration on local level groups such as teachers organization or railway workers organization. A parliament gradually formed in England where national level civic organization required to be consulted by the king for decision making. The kings power gradually got reduced and he became a consttutional head

Democratic learning and permanence

Whereas the gradual shift of power to multiple national level organizations limited arbitrary power: of kings still there was insufficient democratic feedback from the public. Elections and organised political parties initially looked after interests of the propertied classes as only they had the right to vote. Later the right to vote was extended to all adult men in 1918 and women in 1928 in England. Elections allow participation in decision process in local elections by citizens and promotes learning in organizations regarding interests of the various groups. Elections at national level gives the interest of national level organizations. The interest of stakeholders are thus transmitted to decision makers allowing evolutionary learning.

Rise of welfare state in developed nations

Elections do not necessarily lead to a corruption free nation. As is evident from the history of nineteenth century Britain and America , the power is grabbed by corrupt politicians. The education,health systems of the state is used by the poorer class. Similarly doles to poor by the state is under the control of politicians. The ability to control state largesse allows corrupt politicians to gather votes. Again the state had  the power to grant monololies in eighteenth century England. It extended to giving permission to form business corporations. In large scale infrastructure projects the state determined grant of fixed profit to the private participants. Moreover the police administration was corrupt and officers were selected by politicians based on their likes and dislikes. 

    There was a tectonic change in corruption in early twentieth century in western world. The reason was the accumulation of continued productivity rise in economy and a huge surplus in government revenue from taxation of the economy.This for the first time led to modernisation of schools,National health service in Britain and participation and use of these fascilities  by the middle class. The middle class is vocal and its use of government education and health fascilities has prevented the quality from falling. Moreover as the education and health infrastructure has become affordable to all politicians have lost their discretionary power to influence voters.

     As the power of politicians decreased the arms of state , the police and judiciary also ignored the politicians.The politician now had to go to voters with a economic or social agenda and was dependent on it to get votes.The unemployment doles of the welfare state eliminated the lumpen class in cities who indulged in violence earlier. These gangs used to survive by extortion of business and were used to intimidate voters for politicians during elections. With the breaking of the politician criminal nexus the police became effective in controlling criminals without interference from their political bosses.

Today most developed nations are corruption free as a result of the multiple changes mentioned above. However it persists in a pathological form at a higher level. Today the western economies are dominated by huge corporations with worldwide interests. Where’s an economy constituted by free competion  does not seek to influence the government monopolies by their nature do so. As a consequence large arms manufactures, oil conglomerates ,even technology giants today have a symbiotic relationship with politicians in developed nations.

Culture effects on civil society

An agricultural society is based on kinship relations. It causes a lot of problem in a civil society based on impersonal rules and organizations.Similarly ancient religions deter a civil society functioning as religions control every aspect of life ,family, judicial system,political system,education. Religion should shift to personal life and be practiced in private. Again political ideologies both of communist or liberal variety prescribe definite rules for economic organizations and political activity. A mean in between the two with taking the best of both would help civil society best in satisfying all stakeholders.

State formation in developing countries

Most developing countries were either kingdoms or colonial outposts in twentieth century. Those kingdoms which could build a strong army and beauraracy and subjugate regional warlords formed strong centralising states. However most kingdoms failed to do this. Colonial states inherited a colonial army ,police,justice system and beaurocracy. The problem was to maintain it and use it for development activities. Kinship relationship is strong in agricultural economies. They create a patronage system and corrupt impersonal beauracratic rules. Religious organizations present in all cultures make attempts to capture power in absence of a strong state.

     The other problem of building a civil society of autonomous organizations with sharing of decision making power also is deficient. The lack of urbanization with predominance of rural population leads to an absence of autonomous organization at both local and national level. The political leadership is thus not constrained by a need to consult and frequently lapses in a dictatorship.   

       Elections and political parties also malfunction where democracy is present. Parties reflect not organizational interests but interests of self seeking politicians in looting public money.bearacracy can become corrupt and army can takeover rule due to lack of checks by civil society organizations,

 As far as performing developmental activities is concerned , the beauracracy  tends to govern by rules and their multiplicity stifles private enterprise. Public institutions like education suffer from lack of proffesional codes and control by civil society

In India the colonial state with beaurocracy,courts was inherited after independance. However India had a rural economy and lacked urbanisation and civil society. There was a strong political party the  Indian national congress which fought for independance by peacefull protest. However there was no strong opposition party to give a check to its power. 

 Over time the agricultural economy which was dominated by upper caste landlords gradually gave way to land transfer to backward castes. These castes formed powerful groups in congress party and also separate opposition parties. There were regional insurgences which the state was able to control. A policy of religious pandering for minority votes however allowed the opposition to mobilise Hindus and win power .At present  the separation  of religion and politics has got obliterated as both sides pander to communal forces. The lack of civil society control has led to widespread corruption in beaurocracy and justice system.

Origin and management of the industrial economy

  An analogous evolution of economic organizations to political organizations have occurred in developed economies. The initial phase  in nineteenth century was an era of factory construction and management by owners. Usually the capital was accumulated through trade and same invested in physical capital needed for production. These factories were initially in textiles and iron manufacturing but gradually diversified to chemical, electrical goods and others.

   Simultaneously there was private stock market investment in canals and road building and water transport and transport by horse driven coaches. Financial organizations arose in the form of banks and stock markets and they provided capital for industry and infrastructure.

With diversification of industries ,infrastructure and finance the economy became autonomous . There were definite  frameworks for taking loans,investing in stocks,opening a new business . There was little role of a government in economy. Diversification led to exchange of knowledge from related industries. This led to learning and development.

  However the early twentieth century was marred by severe business cycles and inequality. There was insufficient investment including in research and development by firms. Now government had to step in to help various stakeholders such as banks,infrastructure,employment ,health education sectors. The support of stakeholders led to golden period of sustained growth in Europe in twentieth century. This was evolutionary learning.

Ack:Political order in changing societies,The clash of civilizationsand the remaking of world order,Intentions in great power politics,State building governance and world order,Class caste and power