What are the best resources for building gears-level models of how governments actually work?
post by adamShimi · 2024-08-19T14:05:02.590Z · LW · GW · 2 commentsThis is a question post.
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Answers 11 ChristianKl 5 jmh 3 Nick Stetler None 2 comments
One big hole in my set of frames and models of the world is that I don't understand how government works. I don't understand how the government of my native country (France) works, I don't understand how the government of the country I live in (UK) works, I don't understand how the governments of countries that matter for international coordination (US, China, Russia, Europe (not a country, but relevant player)) work.
I would like to fix this, both for my own understanding and because that sounds quite relevant to my own decisions about prioritizing various kind of works on preventing AI risks.
So I'm looking for resources that actually explain and distill:
- How various government works in details
- How the laws are conceived, passed, discussed
- How international treaties are negotiated and applied
- What are the influences of the general opinion, the press, lobbying, all these different actors.
I'm aware that these technically fall into very different fields of studies, and jobs, and topics, but I'm hoping that there might be, somewhere, a synthesis.
To give a vibe of the ideal resource, it would be something like what Steve Byrnes [LW · GW] would write if he was distilling political science and law making and international treaties instead of neuroscience.
I don't expect to get that sadly, but still curious to see if there are obvious resources that I couldn't find on quick google and asking around.
(Note: I'm really, really not interested in resources that try to make a point about some people being bad, some form of government being worse, all that stuff. Not saying it's not potentially important in general, just not useful for the kind of model I want to build. I'm much more interested in good descriptive compressions than in normative arguments)
Answers
It's worth noting that knowledge is power and knowledge and that goes especially for knowledge about how the government works.
A lobbyists who understands really well how laws gets passed in a way that allows him to influence how laws are passed has power that comes from having a better understanding than other players. They lose something if the knowledge spreads. As a result it's hard to gather the most important knowledge.
Robert Caro's book The Power Broker is great in explain how Robert Moses exerted power in New York. I have only read The Power Broker but not Caro's book about Lyndon Johnson, but I expect that you learn a great deal about how government worked from his book about Lyndon Johnson as well.
Unfortunately, you are unlikely to find a book that goes that well into how either France or the United Kingdom presently work.
When it comes to understanding the way governance works in the United Kingdom at a moment, I would likely read Dominic Cummings. While he certainly isn't a neutral source he speaks quite openly about how things actually work and might give you a good foundation.
Governments frequently leak documents. Reading leaked documents seems to me quite important if you actually want to get ground level truth into the workings of government without anyone's spin.
- You might take a look at things like
Bucannan & Tullock The Caclulus of Consent
Sam Peltzmans Towards a more General Theory of Regulation
There was also an old political economy paper published lin the late 19th century I think, in a French journal. The English title is "The Chairman's Problem", IIRC -- I never read it but it was mentioned by one of my professors. Basically discussing the challenges of voting cycles and agenda setting. It might be something you can find and was written by someone that was actually living with and dealing with a real political/governance problem hands on.
Gordon Tullock and Anne Krugueger are probably the correct starting point to get some insights to the concept of rent-seeking in political economy systems -- govenrments.
And of course just reading the rule books for the various governments or parts of the government -- for the US that would be looking at the Constitution and the rules governing internal processes for both the House and Senate. Parlimentary systems will have similar rules of governance.
Looking at the organizational charts likely also help -- what are the committee structures and how does legislation flow through.
I think a lot of the above hits on the idea of gears-level models (and you can likely find good references to alternative perspectives if any of the above seem to slip into the area you hope to avoid). That said I'm not sure I would view political governance as truely having any gears. I think all the rules tend to become more like the Pirate's Code in Piarates of the Caribbean: more like guidelines than hard and fast rule.
↑ comment by adamShimi · 2024-08-19T17:10:15.175Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Thanks!
After checking them, it feels like most of your links are focused on an economic lens to politics and governance, or at least an economic bent. Does that seem correct?
And of course just reading the rule books for the various governments or parts of the government -- for the US that would be looking at the Constitution and the rules governing internal processes for both the House and Senate. Parlimentary systems will have similar rules of governance.
Looking at the organizational charts likely also help -- what are the committee structures and how does legislation flow through.
Yeah, ideally I would prefer to read an overview and model of these, but I agree that if it doesn't exist, then reading the docs and charts is probably the simplest alternative.
That said I'm not sure I would view political governance as truely having any gears. I think all the rules tend to become more like the Pirate's Code in Piarates of the Caribbean: more like guidelines than hard and fast rule.
I would guess that there are probably gears level model of how the governments actually work. Whether these are exactly the models provided in rules and guidelines, I'm not sure, but assuming not.
I would check out the public papers of the presidents, the US Government Manual, and congressional records. These will be in any law library. CSPAN has a huge library of media as well. Also I will second the Robert Caro suggestion. His books are extremely long, but often a chapter can be read independently. I personally recommend the chapter "1 mile" from The Power Broker and "Lyndon Johnson and the Liberal" from Master of the Senate. I am not especially well placed to answer this question; just a fellowtraveler pursuing the same question.
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comment by Mateusz Bagiński (mateusz-baginski) · 2024-08-19T17:23:27.543Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
This is not quite an answer to your question but some recommendations in the comments to this post may be relevant: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SCs4KpcShb23hcTni/ideal-governance-for-companies-countries-and-more [LW · GW]
Replies from: adamShimi