Check 20 - Governments - Vetting

The Hidden Power

Technocratic democracy: Government designs for action shall be disciplined through their vetting.

We often hear that politicians are essentially sales staff - but there are implications of this, if we extend the metaphor. They are not the engineers. They don't really understand what they are selling, they're just playing for the team. And if we were to imagine that someone did really understand, we would be a bit naïve. But clearly things - all kinds of things - would work a lot better if the question of how laws and regulations, or indeed overall missions, designs for action, were to be implemented - they would work better if this question was interrogated from the outset.

As things stand, at least in the UK, any such evaluation is entirely optional, and normally ignored. Again, the spewing of 150 items per ministry per week should shock us into attention to the sheer dysfunction of our system, and the volume of wastage. What this principle does is, in effect, to paraphrase the famous designer, Dieter Rams: Less, but better. And not only that, but to make it enforceable. And this is where the separation of powers comes in to play - a second chamber can take the Executive's wild if well-intentioned hallucinations of the glorious future, interrogate them and reconstruct them as workable programmes.

In this episode, we look in detail at an eight-step vetting process devised by Ed and his co-author, Ray Ison, that would ensure that any designs that a government might have for action would align with the overall ethos of bringing about beneficial change.

Talking points:

Using expertise within a democratic structure

...as a check on the executive

The PR basis of political activity

There's nothing to ensure that learning is applied

Evaluations do not typically challenge the system

Money gets creamed off, culture of graft

Commercial due diligence as a model

Norman Strauss: ethos

The 8 Tests: Framing, Purpose, Engagement and Stakeholder, Insider, Other Countries, Systems Thinking, Capability, Value

Some systems have a more conducive ethos

Singapore - decisions tree

New Zealand - other forms of Capital

Links:

Norman Strauss

https://normanstrauss.wordpress.com/tag/norman-strauss/

Stafford Beer: “Rules come from System 5: not so much by stating them firmly, as by creating a corporate ethos – an atmosphere”

The inside and now, the outside and then:

1. Systems 1, 2 and 3 between them make up the internal environment of the viable system – the Inside and Now. The autonomous parts function in a harmonising internal environment which maximises its effectiveness through creating mutually supportive relationships.
2. System 4 is concerned with the Outside and Then. It formulates plans in the context of both the outside world and its intense interaction with System 3 which ensures all plans are grounded in the knowledge of the capabilities of the organisation.

The Viable System Model (blog)

https://metaphorum.org/viable-system-model

Gillian Tett: Anthropology as the study of what it means to be human in a digital age (Zoom interview with The Mint Magazine)

https://www.themintmagazine.com/tribes-and-tribulations

Sarah Novak & Dr Caroline Mc Leish: Social Capital and New Zealand's Living Standards Framework (blog/interivew):

https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/insights/good-economics-new-zealand-s-focus-on-living-standards-and-social-capital-to-navigate-crisis

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