6
The Political Returns of Democratic Governance
analytically more subjective. How
effective
governance may be is in part
bound by the checks and balances of democracy and the outcome may
therefore be uneven. How
efficient
that process is can also be associated
with
democratic
governance, but not necessarily so. This is implied
in the Chinese bureaucrat’s comment noted earlier. The danger of
efficient governance unencumbered by democracy is that it is a short-
cut toward the emergence of populist and authoritarian tendencies.
And the first to suffer are at the local level – individual voices are not
heard, agreed-to mandates are not met, contradictory political and
economic priorities are imposed, limited resources are wasted, and
corrective local initiatives are smothered.
Fukuyama graphs approximations of the
scope-strength
matrix and it
is useful to visualize; the United States has a less expansive state or
public sector role (scope) than Brazil but the quality (strength) of its
bureaucracy or public management is perceived as substantially higher
than Brazil’s. Both have federal structures, including strong state and
local governance institutional roles, so the comparison has some value.
A roughly similar measurement might be made of the
effectiveness-
success
matrix, which draws on the Mainwaring-Scully analysis. One
can argue that the United States ranks high on the strength of the state
scale, which combined with its limited scope, provides it with good
odds for success. On the other hand, effectiveness is a less predictable
variable. Alternatively, Brazil’s relatively weaker state strength limits
its success, and the broader scope of its public sector undermines
overall effectiveness. The same exercise could be repeated with other
Latin American examples. In an adaptation of Fukuyama’s graphic
representation, figures 1 and 2 visualize the relationships of the two
matrices.
What this analysis only imperfectly addresses is the citizen component
of governance. Much of the governance literature is framed as though it
is only a derivative of government, less so of citizens. Yet, in democratic
governance the balance of influence or power rests with citizens.
Government is constructed by, representative of, and accountable to
the needs of its citizens. This is encapsulated in the IRI operating
