In Search of the Government Concept

Governmental Power Market-Ing in the VU-CHAOS World

Introduction

The word “government” is one of the most well-known words among people, including youngsters in kindergarten in Australia and India (Developed from Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario, 2010, p. 1.10; Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, 2017, unpaged). According to the Oxford American Dictionary, it has two condensed meanings in general: an entity that governs a state or country, and an act of governing (Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 340). However, throughout the entire book, the authors only use the first meaning. According to its first definition, according to the Inter-American Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, which was adopted on December 26, 1933, it is a fundamental component of every modern state as a manager of state with the authority to make policy-based decisions. Due to the term limits outlined in each state’s constitution or coup d'état, its legitimacy is momentary. It could be changed for a new one without bringing about the collapse of the state (Adapted from the Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, 1933). In addition, the government as a policy maker for resource allocation strongly needs bureaucracy as an efficient and effective mechanism in public policy implementation. The separation of responsibility between two entities is called the politics/administration dichotomy, according to Wilson and Goodnow (Adapted from Wilson, 1887; Goodnow, 1900). In conclusion, the government has existed since political science and public administration began as academic disciplines.

However, the mainstream of both fields focuses on manipulated rule-based government, which has become obsolete in the age of the digital economy. Through centralization, hierarchy, rules, and regulations, this type of government places a special emphasis on legitimate power and how to use it, while prioritizing budget spending over budget earning. In 1911, Max Weber argued that laws and regulations are two essential tools used by the government to guard against the misuse and abuse of power. These mechanisms, however, have a lot of unfavorable side effects.

First, rules and regulations become two barriers to preventing precise rational decision-making, causing red tape in administrative procedures and systems, and using time and resources carelessly. In addition, they cannot prevent corruption, instead, they become mechanisms for government officials to commit bribery, extortion, fraud, abuse of power, embezzlement, and money laundering. Furthermore, they hinder change, self-development, and creativity by establishing routine and standard of procedure (SOP). They therefore reduce the enthusiasm of officials to effectively improve performance, as public service delivery must be conducted in accordance with SOPs. This problem leads to the displacement of goals, in which officials replace the instrumental goals for the public interest (ends) with the terminal goals for complying with rules and regulations (means) in order to maintain the organization and administrative power (Weber, 2019; Laudon & Laudon, 2022; Michels, 1915; Gouldner, 1954; Merton, 1968). In addition, politics-administration dichotomy is another characteristic of manipulated rule-based government since Woodrow Wilson in 1887 and Frank J. Goodnow in 1900 (Wilson, 1887; Goodnow, 1900). With this kind of professional management in public policy implementation without the hurry and strife of politics, governments employ their obsoleted marketing in order to invent legitimate power over people in their jurisdiction.