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The Trouble with Government
In the past thirty years, Americans have lost faith in their government and the politicians who lead it. They have blamed Washington for a long list of problems, ranging from poor schools to costly medical care to high rates of violent crime. After investigating these complaints and determining that many are justified, Derek Bok seeks to determine the main reasons for the failings and frustrations associated with government.
Discounting three common explanations--deteriorating leadership, the effect of the media on the political process, and the influence of interest groups--Bok identifies four weaknesses that particularly need a persistent tendency by Congress to design programs poorly; to impose expensive and often quixotic regulations that produce only modest results; to do less than other leading democracies to protect working people from illness, unemployment, and other basic hazards of life; and to leave large numbers of people, especially children, living in poverty.
Bok goes on to explore the reasons for these fundamental weaknesses and to discuss popular remedies such as term limits, devolution, "reinventing" government, and campaign finance reform. While some of these proposals have merit, Bok finds a deeper, more troubling Americans want to gain more power over their government, but are devoting less time to exerting a constructive influence. Their dissatisfaction with government is growing as their participation in the political process is declining. These contradictory trends, Bok argues, contribute to the problems of our democracy. Fortunately, there are many concrete steps that Americans can take to be politically engaged and to help their government improve its performance.
"Democracy," Bok concludes, "is a collective venture which falters or flourishes depending on the efforts citizens invest in its behalf."
Discounting three common explanations--deteriorating leadership, the effect of the media on the political process, and the influence of interest groups--Bok identifies four weaknesses that particularly need a persistent tendency by Congress to design programs poorly; to impose expensive and often quixotic regulations that produce only modest results; to do less than other leading democracies to protect working people from illness, unemployment, and other basic hazards of life; and to leave large numbers of people, especially children, living in poverty.
Bok goes on to explore the reasons for these fundamental weaknesses and to discuss popular remedies such as term limits, devolution, "reinventing" government, and campaign finance reform. While some of these proposals have merit, Bok finds a deeper, more troubling Americans want to gain more power over their government, but are devoting less time to exerting a constructive influence. Their dissatisfaction with government is growing as their participation in the political process is declining. These contradictory trends, Bok argues, contribute to the problems of our democracy. Fortunately, there are many concrete steps that Americans can take to be politically engaged and to help their government improve its performance.
"Democracy," Bok concludes, "is a collective venture which falters or flourishes depending on the efforts citizens invest in its behalf."
- GenresPolitics
507 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
36 people want to read
About the author
Derek Bok
32 books17 followersDerek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and the former president of Harvard University.
Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1954), and George Washington University (A.M., 1958). He taught law at Harvard from 1958, where he served as dean of the law school (1968–1971) and then as university president (1971–1991). Bok currently serves as the Faculty Chair at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard and continues to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School.
After 15 years away from the Harvard presidency, Bok returned to lead the university on an interim basis after Lawrence Summers's resignation took effect on July 1, 2006. He was succeeded by Drew Gilpin Faust on July 1, 2007.
Bok's wife, the sociologist and philosopher Sissela Bok, née Myrdal (daughter of the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal and the politician and diplomat Alva Myrdal, both Nobel laureates), is also affiliated with Harvard, where she received her doctorate in 1970. His daughter, Hilary Bok, is a philosophy professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1954), and George Washington University (A.M., 1958). He taught law at Harvard from 1958, where he served as dean of the law school (1968–1971) and then as university president (1971–1991). Bok currently serves as the Faculty Chair at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard and continues to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School.
After 15 years away from the Harvard presidency, Bok returned to lead the university on an interim basis after Lawrence Summers's resignation took effect on July 1, 2006. He was succeeded by Drew Gilpin Faust on July 1, 2007.
Bok's wife, the sociologist and philosopher Sissela Bok, née Myrdal (daughter of the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal and the politician and diplomat Alva Myrdal, both Nobel laureates), is also affiliated with Harvard, where she received her doctorate in 1970. His daughter, Hilary Bok, is a philosophy professor at Johns Hopkins University.
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October 12, 2020
It took me a long time to get through this! (9 years!)
But don't let the dryness of President Bok's rhetoric turn you off: this is a somber assessment of the state of government, and the American public's perception of said government, at the turn of the century. Bok ascertains with clarity the problems that beset American government, focusing on the bureaucratic and structural issues that prevent quality legislation from being passed, that disregard full and equal representation of all consituents / demographics, and that cause rifts between idealism and pragmatism. He explains why it's difficult to reform bureaucracy, why poor and working class people have a hard time getting their voices heard in Congress, and the historical issues underlying difficulties with campaign finance reform.
I'd be curious how a 2020 version of this book is written. Much of the framing is rather dated, quaint, or has turned out poorly in the age of social media (oh, the internet as a way to access information more freely will allow for a more enlightened and educated populace!). But some precepts still rings true. People still vote in primaries at lower rates than in general elections, creating the perceptions that the political parties are more extreme than they really are. Factual inaccuracies pervade public opinion and are still present in all arenas policy debates today - Bok cites multiple times misconceptions from general public surveys about specific social realities (e.g. that more than half of welfare recipients in the mid-90s were black).
None of this detracts from Bok's greatest strength: his ability to argue intelligently and even-handedly on the benefits and problematics of the American system of governance. Current writers on politics and government could do good by reviewing Bok's discursive techniques. This was a volume of which I was initially skeptical, but have come around to identify as a worthwhile reading endeavor.
But don't let the dryness of President Bok's rhetoric turn you off: this is a somber assessment of the state of government, and the American public's perception of said government, at the turn of the century. Bok ascertains with clarity the problems that beset American government, focusing on the bureaucratic and structural issues that prevent quality legislation from being passed, that disregard full and equal representation of all consituents / demographics, and that cause rifts between idealism and pragmatism. He explains why it's difficult to reform bureaucracy, why poor and working class people have a hard time getting their voices heard in Congress, and the historical issues underlying difficulties with campaign finance reform.
I'd be curious how a 2020 version of this book is written. Much of the framing is rather dated, quaint, or has turned out poorly in the age of social media (oh, the internet as a way to access information more freely will allow for a more enlightened and educated populace!). But some precepts still rings true. People still vote in primaries at lower rates than in general elections, creating the perceptions that the political parties are more extreme than they really are. Factual inaccuracies pervade public opinion and are still present in all arenas policy debates today - Bok cites multiple times misconceptions from general public surveys about specific social realities (e.g. that more than half of welfare recipients in the mid-90s were black).
None of this detracts from Bok's greatest strength: his ability to argue intelligently and even-handedly on the benefits and problematics of the American system of governance. Current writers on politics and government could do good by reviewing Bok's discursive techniques. This was a volume of which I was initially skeptical, but have come around to identify as a worthwhile reading endeavor.
Displaying 1 of 1 review