Civil Administration...
As described in the introduction to this series, the concept of the Shadow is an extension of the idea of a “shadow government” to include all the basic functions that are necessary for what is commonly thought of as civilization. For the sake of simplicity, I have divided these functions into seven overlapping categories:
1. Civil administration 2. Education (primary, secondary, and post-secondary) 3. The media and mass communications 4. Manufacturing and commerce 5. Legislative bodies 6. Law enforcement 7. The military
I list civil administration first because it is the most important of these functions. Without it the other six can’t be drawn together into an effective society.
The aim of the Shadow is to begin a conscious and coordinated process of preparing for the social and political discontinuity that lies ahead. But how are we to simulate the functions of civil administration? One would think that we have more than enough experienced and skilled raw material available for the purpose, given the omnipresent bloated top-heavy bureaucratic entities that manage the affairs — both public and “private” — of the citizens of Western democracies.
However, the vast majority of the administrators of the existing structures are thoroughly committed to the maintenance of the entrenched system which is even now on the verge of failure. Their participation in the Shadow would require that their minds be violently wrenched from a well-worn groove and set on a new track, one that might allow them to examine the emerging crisis from a different point of view.
We may pick up a few outliers here and there who defect from the existing system, but most of the raw material for the civil administrative Shadow will tend to come from outside government, academia, the mainstream media, the large philanthropies, and major corporations — these are the entities whose very existence depends on the continuation of what has always gone before, but which cannot continue for much longer.
Fortunately for the Shadow, there is a large pool of talented people who are either outside the existing structure or work in the lowest levels of it. Some of them have had experience running their own businesses, or charitable organizations, or think tanks. Others are simply well-educated people of above-average intelligence, i.e. the brilliant and independent thinkers who have declined to become a part of the machine — or have been rejected by it.
When considering civil administration, most of us think of faceless bureaucrats in an immense hive-like state or other corporate entity. It’s hard to conceptualize anything different, since huge bureaucratic entities have been the norm for the last 150 years or so, and they now account for more than half of all paid employment in the Western democracies. Enormous sclerotic bureaucracies are not a modern invention, of course: the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire were synonymous with intricately corrupt bureaucracies. Ours have simply expanded to the functional limit of such structures.
Civil administration is much more than bureaucracy, however. Effective administration is necessary for all organized forms of human activity that require coordination and cooperation within groups of more than a few people. Administrative systems vary widely according to the cultural background of the participants — clan-based institutions are found in much of the Middle East, while caste and class systems play a large role in other societies.
The meritocratic administrative state is a relatively recent invention by European civilization and its descendants. Today’s crop of administrators — who are even now running the ship onto the rocks — are supposedly the cream that rose to the top of our societies based on their intelligence and training. However, several generations ago meritocracy gave way to rule by a clique, even in the most democratic and secular Western states. The meritocratic ideal is now only a pretense — any intelligent person who is not part of the system has only to examine it closely to realize that it is no longer run by the best and the brightest, if indeed it ever was.
The failure of the current trans-national financial regime may be attributed in large part to its insular nature and the mediocre intelligence of those who direct it and benefit from it. The job of the Shadow is to form a base of more capable administrators who are skilled enough to usher in an alternative model when the welfare state finally collapses.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Suppose we were to launch a Shadow Civil Administration in earnest — what traits would we be looking at? What sort of skills will be useful and necessary to help restore civil society after the end of the modern bureaucratic welfare state?
Assuming that functionaries in all the existing gigantic bureaucracies will not be well-represented among our volunteers, we should expect most of our skilled Shadow administrators to come from small businesses and minor non-profit organizations. The latter group is the most interesting to me, because it is the milieu I currently inhabit.
For the past four years my primary occupation — in addition to writing blog posts — has involved working with various groups of Counterjihad volunteers, both in the United States and Europe. These dedicated people can be divided into two main groups: those who work (either for pay or as volunteers) for non-profit groups that actually receive some sort of funding, and those whose work is generally underwritten solely by themselves. Obviously these two groups overlap, but their organizational characteristics are quite distinct.
If you are an administrator in a non-profit organization, much of your time and effort is consumed with fund-raising — it’s the nature of the beast. In order to keep the organization up and running, someone has to find and court potential donors, while involving them in the activities of the group they donate to.
This both empowers and limits the actions of a non-profit. Obviously, the organization would be ill-advised to venture outside the comfort zone of its major donors. On the other hand, within those constraints its funding enables it to take effective action.
The Shadow Knows
Labels:
bureaucracies»
Byzantine»
economy»
education»
Government Benefits»
Mass Media»
Media»
Ottoman
