The Sediment Of Culture Shapes Political Order
Governing systems are effective when power, ideology and deep culture are aligned.
TL;DR
- Governing systems are effective when power, ideology, and deep culture are aligned.
- China's 'whole dragon' approach allows for long-term goal setting and implementation, contrasting with consumer democracies' struggles.
- China's system has flaws, such as the one-child policy and COVID lockdowns, where a lack of corrective feedback caused damage.
- Emerging feedback mechanisms in China include expanded surveillance registering dissatisfaction and 'sousveillance' from citizens reporting official behavior.
- Carl Gay posits that culture is the slowest layer to move but ultimately shapes power and ideology, acting as the accumulated residue of past arrangements and stories.
- Consumer democracies have error feedback but lack continuity because their culture has not yet accumulated the consequences to create a constituency for the future.