Strays, Disasters, & Wars to Davos: Governance, Civility and Pragmatics (Update)
The last several weeks continue to be eventful with Haiti continuing to occupy front page space and 
the nightly news & nightmares, the segue from the SOTU to the 2011 Budget to the conclusions of the WEF's Davos2010 conference who's theme this year was "rethink, redesign and rebuild". There were several central themes that reverberated which we need to dig into and revisit when we get back to looking at international affairs but a central one was a need to regain trust in government, business and leadership by improving performance and governance, and so rebuild trust. Here, here. This being Sunday we're going to focus on that issue because it threads across every session, the problems in Haiti and the problems we're having at home. You've all probably seen more than your share of images but CNN did this marvelous 360' short vidclip where you can pan the view. A word of caution - thes images are too tame because they're largely of a tent city not the devastation and injured. But even as the garden spot they're still terrible.
The Parable of the Stray
In some ways what brings such events home even more than terrible images is heartfelt words and here we look to the words of Haitian ex-pat poet Michele Voltaire Marcelin who's lament for the lost children of Haiti will bring it home. Equally she laments the deep fissures and breakdowns in Haitian society and governance, the legacy of centuries of malfeasance, and applauds the resilience and spirit of the Haitian people.
Were you ever walking down the street when a stray dog came up to you wagging their tail? Hoping for a handout but really looking for a friendly pat on the head and some sense of security and future. How many times did you reach down in pity and sadness to do the feelgood thing? 50%, 75%, 90%, all the time? One of our great epiphanies was the realization that the after petting the dog we'd have to chase them away. In fact the only person in this exchange who'd end up feeling good was ourselves, not the dog. Unless we were prepared to take them home, take care of them and nurture them for a long time. Instead most of us had our "moment" and walked on. Stop and think about that for moment or three. Our hearts may be moved to pity, we may write a check or we may text a contribution but are we really prepared to do for Haiti what needs to be done? In the long run?
Haiti in the Long-run: Head-pats vs. Sustainable Commitment
The international humanitarian community, governments, private enterprises and citizens from around the world have been responding enthusiastically and generously to the crisis. So much so that they are getting in each other's way, sniping about who's plane gets to land or writing WSJ oped pieces about how terrible everything is. Let's get some things straight - this is the worst natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere and the first in modern history in a built-up urban area. It took out the buildings, the streets, the urban infrastructure, the government, the civil service, the NGO's and almost everything else. Couldn't have happened at a worse place - or in some ways worse time since last year Haiti had four major hurricanes that dropped it's GDP by 15%. All that after a democratic regime, so-to-speak was only first installed for the first time in history in the mid-80s and saw the elected President run out in the mid-90s. In fact Haiti has only received semi-serious attention from a legion of do-gooders in the last ten years or so. Most of whom, just as they have in the current disaster, want to parachute in, "pet the dog" and leave feeling good about themselves but not having made any long-lasting contribution. As an example Royal Caribbean was heavily criticized for continuing to stop at its Haitian stopovers. What should they have done instead - not continued? And thrown thousands more Haitians out of work, or not brought in the tons of relief supplies? The really sad thing is that the assistance programs trying to make substantive long term changes, bring in private investment, develop new foundations for the economy and improve governance were actually starting to work before this disaster. The vidclip is a special session on Haiti from Davos and if you don't have time to listen to the entire thing scroll on to the last 5-10 minutes where President Clinton is summarizing things and talking about how to move beyond feelgood gestures to real commitment.
Governance and Civil Society
One of the interesting things we've noticed is a rather old post of ours has attracted a lot of attention this week (Citizenship, Civitas & Stability) - it's a short comment on the role of good government and civil behavior, what we call Civitas, in nurturing society, prosperity and human well-being. In it we quoted a statement of Adam Smith's, who was far less the free-market purist and more the moral philosopher, economic statesman and champion of good government than his more recent ideological followers know or are inclined to accept. He got it exactly right:
"Little else is required to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice."
The Haiti clip is one of several from the Davos meetings that we've collected in the readings, concentrating on the overview sessions and those that bear directly on the general questions of governance and civil society, including in Afghanistan, Africa and Haiti, as well as on the broader questions of rethinking, redesigning and rebuilding global governance for the challenges of this century. (A slightly fuller review is The Cusp Point is Here: Lessons From Davos). 
But let's not get to proud of ourselves for our excellent governance, which was not lightly developed, has a long and bloody history, is replete with many transgressions and sins and that we take all too lightly for granted. In addition to the Davos sessions the Readings section has pointers to two white papers on the nature of good government and an engaged foreign policy built around those principles plus several examples of where they are severely challenged. Including the Congo where the death toll is now larger than the Holocaust but even more widely ignored, the fragile situation in Yemen, and that classic English example - the Wars of the Roses. In case you're not familiar with the history after rising to be the greatest power in Europe the English provoked decades of fratricidal Civil War among the nobility as they competed for place and power. And almost destroyed England in the process. Also included among the examples is the gang rape in Richmond, Ca. last fall of a young girl watched, witnessed and photographed by dozens of bystanders. Good government is not a free gift from on high, it's something you have to work at. Yet it's something all people in all places strive and struggle for. Most of us just happen to be fortunate enough to live in places where we inherit centuries, even millenia, of the slow and painful accumulation of rules, procedures, attitudes and values. Things that can vanish overnight as the Lord of the Flies (here in a clip from the 90s remake) reminds us ( Lord of the Flies (Trailer 1990)).
Re-visiting Good Government: Legitimacy vs. Performance
Defining good government, analyzing its structure and character and evaluating its impacts on social performance is something we've done a lot of. In fact it's been one of our central concerns on this blog and you'll find the two key white papers on the theory and practice below (Good Government for a Stable World). Just to make the point here's the example of the application to Iraq from almost two years ago. There are several key points to make here: 1) good government can take several forms depending on circumstances, 2) it depends critically on the support of the populace, i.e. it must be legitimate in that people know it's doing its best to solve their problems and represent their interests fairly and honestly, 3) it must be effective and efficient in the sense that resources collected must be re-invested in the betterment of society and not squandered on the private pleasures of the governors, 4) you can't magically leap to a new level but must necessarily move along a trajectory from where you're at to where you would like to go but 5) at the end of the day the return is everybody being better off than they would be otherwise (NB: Iraq is enormously better off than it's been for decades. Other examples include China and Russia while the general framework lays out the rules).
Henry VIII, Sir Thomas More and the Rule of Law
The victor of the last great battle of the Wars of the Roses was the Earl of Richmond, who founded the Tudor dynasty. And eventually his greatest direct descendant, Elizabeth I, mothered a golden age for England that was the birthplace of much of the modern world as we know it from culture to policy to the first stirrings of a modern economy and explorations of the world. Along the way her father H8 went thru multiple wives looking for a male heir (ironic isn't it that in the last 1,000 years the greatest English rulers have all been women?). That wasn't only pride and vanity though. For ten millenia the greatest challenge of human government is the transition from one regime to another. When the King was succeeded by a legitimate and competent successor private citizens could have confidence in the long-term prospects of the country...which is when they felt safe in making long-term investments in farms, equipment, roads and new ventures. 
Long-lived, stable and good government is the single most important factor in history in human prosperity. So when Henry couldn't get an heir all that threatened to come crashing down. Perhaps the best illustration of the political manuverings surrounding this little problem was the great movie, "A Man for All Seasons". (NB: the best depictions of the chaos that preceded the Tudors is Richard III).
Of all the many find, marvelous and educational moments in that astonishing movie the one that brings home our key point more than any other, is Sir Thomas More's defense of the Rule of Law. Especially in contrast to the appeals of his wannabe clerk who would sell his soul or anything else to further himself... or his son-in-law who would sell his for ideology. A just, effective and prosperous government doesn't result from private interests gone wild or ideologies riding roughshod over all obstacles. It results from respect for ideals, values and institutions and the very essence of civil society, tolerance and respect. Along with this clip you might "enjoy" this one where Cardinal Wolsey, then Henry's Chancellor, complains of More's "moral squint". Or these, where More, now Chancellor in his own right, confronts the King and is stripped of his office, or the end of his trial.
The governance we enjoy was purchased for as at great and painful cost over centuries by the payments of many unsung true patriots like Sir Thomas More, who built the society and civilization we now live in. And which we need to extend, at least in adapted form, to meet the challenges of this century. So say we all - let's have an Amen please!
UPDATE:
David Warsh of Economic Principals has done us the great favor of tackling Haiti by channeling a recent volume (Natural Experiments of History) edited by Jared Diamond of Guns, Germs & Steel fame. (which if you haven't read is one of the Ur-texts of our methodology). Here are some brief excerpts from What Can Be Done for Haiti:
"Thus climatic and environmental differences were greatly amplified by social histories. After 1930, political differences became even more important. Dictator Rafael Trujillo took control of the Dominican and operated the nation as a family business, emphasizing exports and encouraging tourism, hiring expert foresters from Sweden and Puerto Rico and protecting large tracts of timber from being harvested by others. In Haiti, “Papa Doc” Duvalier ruled from 1957 until 1971 (and his son “Baby Doc” until 1985) without contributing much of anything to the island’s development – least of all forest management. .... The fact about Haiti that stands out above all others in this telling is the marooning of an African population on a Caribbean island, the uniquely violent war of independence that followed, and its legacy of retribution and mutual mistrust – two centuries of near-isolation and estrangement.... And that is the real point of this column. Rebuilding Haiti’s housing stock and physical infrastructure is important. Building its human capital is even more important."
