Robustness and the Governance Sin of Bureaucratic Animosity

Abstract

We expect our governance systems to be robust. When they are challenged by internal or external actors, ideally they are sufficiently flexible and appropriately thought out to cope and function for the betterment of society. A governance system incapable of resisting challenges is soon replaced—or so we would hope. Unfortunately, lived experiences for many find that bureaucratic inertia gives a new meaning to robustness—the system survives and continues to roll on despite its flawed integrity. Robustness as a value thus has two interpretations—it is good when it protects the processes of governance from spurious challenges; and robustness is bad when a techno-rational mindset violates the integrity of governance to cause harm to the governed.