Hi Ed,
So here's a short summary of my views of the Civil Service:
The Civil Service in England (and undoubedly in all nation-states, too) was
started as a self-conscious top-down organisation and has remained so ever
since, meanwhile "capturing" the so-called democratic process of politics.
Essentially, even though it is an intellectual body rather than something
established by force -- as almost all other governing bodies have been
throughout history -- it suffers from not receiving sufficient feedback
from the masses. These days, when economic life is so much more complex
than ever before, hierarchical structures can't cope with the flow of
information that's necessary for optimal governance. The typical civil
services of nation-states are patently failing (as also mass membership of
political parties) and, as a consequence, we are already seeing the
emergence of powerful specialised pressure groups which are seeking to
influence political decision-making from the bottom upwards, aided by the
media and other devices (opinion polls, etc).
Keith H
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Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org>
6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727;
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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