In a few past messages somewhere the point was raised that Rumsfeld, etc. grossly underestimated the amount of disruption that a few weeks of simple looting was going to cause, and this seems to be the most plausible explanation for the difficulty we find ourselves in.
I think there's also been a real underestimation of the degree to which extended pervasive dictatorship distorts the economy as a whole, and the bureaucracy in particular. This is something I'm pretty familiar with, after time spent in Manila after the fall of Marcos. The problem lies in the combination of centralism and feudalism: government or cronies of the dictator (usually undistinguishable) generally control everything, every business, every agency, every local government. Corruption becomes pervasive, from top to bottom. Public and private entities become welfare agencies, the employee rolls stacked with the friends and relatives of the influential.
In short, we both the private and public sectors have, for decades, been operating with the goal of maintaining centralized power and enriching the chosen, and their structures, staff, and organizational cultures reflect those goals. Making that change will be a whole lot more difficult than some people think. It is not just a matter of installing appropriate laws, structures, and institutions, it's a matter of changing an entrenched management culture, and that's not going to happen fast. |
