[HPforGrownups] Checks and balances

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 83990

Astrofiammante wrote:

>So we have a system depicted where the executive - the Ministry of
>Magic - has none of the checks and balances operating on it that
>should be there, if we want to draw parallels with our own Muggle
>world.

I think that this is one of the messages which has been present all along on
an "adult" level, that the WW is not governed, and does not work, in the
same way as our own.

Effectively, it's a pure bureaucracy. I don't agree with those who see there
being some sort of formal relationship between the MoM and either the muggle
PM or 'Er Maj - JKR makes is clear over and over that the WW is a seperate
entity. Muggle rules do not apply, and the denizens of the WW don't seem to
have a problem with that (apart from the Death Eaters, but they're certainly
not trying to replace it with a democracy. To my mind, it's more evidence
that the admixture of muggle born wizards is very small and their "outside"
values about government and civil society aren't able to make any headway.

>And we've seen some of the problems this can cause - when the
>Ministry starts acting beyond its powers - Umbridge's behaviour at
>Hogwarts and by sending the Dementors to Little Whinging, Fudge's
>outrageous attempts to convict Harry wrongly of illegally using
>magic, the lack of a completely free press in the form of a Daily
>Prophet that can be unduly influenced by the Ministry.

Quite so. And the big problem is that even those powers which seem to exist
to control it are probably entirely ineffective. There are, as we know very
well from Professor Binns's lectures, International Wizarding Congresses,
which I'm sure are a supreme power which can tell the bureaucracy what to
do. But you've probably spotted the obvious problem with an international
congress.

That is, who's likely to want to be involved in such a congress? Answer:
those wizards who are interested in politics.

But any wizard who is interested in getting involved in politics has only
one outlet to do so: to go to work in the Ministry!

So all the political wizards are involved in the bureaucracy already anyway
and are unlikely to take any actions to undermine themselves. Dumbledore
seems to be very much an exception to the general rule.

Percy, for example, wants to be Minister. He joins the MoM. Conclusion: the
Minister is normally drawn from the ranks of the senior bureaucracy.

Cheers

Ffred

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