1 / 17

Shadow Elite by Janine Wedel (2009)

Reviewed by Jonathan Young. Shadow Elite by Janine Wedel (2009). Claims. “Shadow elites” play a key policy-making role in some areas Changes in society and government have increased the chances for a shadow elite to control a policy area

pegeen
Download Presentation

Shadow Elite by Janine Wedel (2009)

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Reviewed by Jonathan Young Shadow Eliteby Janine Wedel (2009)

  2. Claims • “Shadow elites” play a key policy-making role in some areas • Changes in society and government have increased the chances for a shadow elite to control a policy area • Shadow elites go around the normal structures of bureaucratic control

  3. Who are the Shadow Elite?

  4. Other Key Ideas • Flexians are in, not of, organizations • Coincidences of interest • Reshaping bureaucracy • Power through access to information

  5. Other Key Ideas • Focus is on executive branch activity, not writing legislation • Privatization of the functions of the state • Merging of state and private power • Might-be-state, might-be-private entities • Might-be-official, might-be-unofficial roles

  6. Why is there an increase in “flex” activity? • Redesign of governing • Outsourcing • Deregulation • Rise of executive power • End of the Cold War • Advent of ever more complex technologies • Embrace of “truthiness”

  7. Consequences • Private or mixed control over state resources • Contractors, rather than government officials, hold vital information • Policy is developed outside of government decision-making channels • Bureaucracy is unable to monitor or control the “shadow government”

  8. Evidence • Social anthropologist • Studied Eastern Europe beginning in the 1980s • Interviews, news stories, and personal observation

  9. Examples…Privatization in Russia • Harvard Institute for International Development received US AID money to support economic reforms • Small group of Russian officials and American consultants leading multiple commissions – a flex net • Shared economic and policy ideology • Harvard team controlled U.S. policy on economic reform aid

  10. Privatization in Russia • Flex net in President’s office, drafting decrees • Diverged from US AID policy • NGOs headed by flex net members had power to make major privatization decisions • Privatization decisions benefitted those with ties to the flex net; did not result in broad benefits to ordinary Russians

  11. The Neocon Core • Flex net centered around Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith • Ideology of American military supremacy and preemptive war • Positions in government and NGOs • Drafting and publicizing policy positions • Raising media attention • Lobbying members of Congress

  12. The Neocon Core • Personalized policy making • Marginalized bureaucratic procedures • Independent intelligence assessments • Created their own bodies of expertise and influence • Increased number of political appointees with fewer bureaucrats • Information campaign – “truthiness”

  13. The Neocon Core Flexnet

  14. So, what can be done? • Stronger regulation • Increased openness • More oversight of contractors • Investigation by government, media and NGOs

  15. Evaluation • This is a pretty specific phenomenon • Convincing examples, but hard to know how common flex nets are • Discomfort with changes from “the way things used to be”

  16. The Bigger Policy Picture • How are policy decisions really made? • Flex activity can be used to pursue financial gain…but also ideologically motivated • Looks at the interaction between private interests and government activity • Private interests may be business interests or may be other interests

  17. Questions & Discussion • I have a hard time knowing if there are other policy areas dominated by flex activity…can you think of any?

More Related