What are some good / fun / informative treatises on good governance?

post by james_t · 2020-03-31T12:06:48.237Z · LW · GW · No comments

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    2 Gary Hess
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Like many of us, I find both (1) an unusual amount of time on my hands to read and (2) a renewed interest in systems of governance which lead to competent collective decision-making.

I honestly haven't read much in this sphere. I was hoping for something which is to, say, political science as Thinking, Fast and Slow is to psychology and rationality: something that is interesting, gives me a good notion of some big problems, which is probably partly wrong, but remains nevertheless informative.

Although I'd be yet more interested which is to political science as, say, CFAR's handbook is to rationality: an attempt to both identify problems and provide means by which they could be solved. A kind of compressed, economically aware, game-theoretically involved, historically anecdoted look at ways of governing and trying to fix classical problems of malice and incompetence within government.

I know the question has a hopeless scope; any suggestions welcome.

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answer by Gary Hess · 2020-04-04T20:49:55.630Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

My hunch is that Schuck PH, Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better (Princeton University Press) (2014) deals with your question pretty directly.

Farnsworth W, The Legal Analyst: A Toolkit for Thinking About the Law (University of Chicago Press) (2007) might also be useful. It's clever, and focuses less on "what should the government do to solve 2007-era problems", and more on "how should the legal tools available to deal with any problem be assessed". So, the book's age shouldn't be too concerning.

Hope they're helpful.

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