Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy!

[starjackson1]

No: HPFGUIDX 147359

Here is an abstract from an interesting article published on the 
Social Science Research Network about Government in the Harry Potter 
universe:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=830765

Author:  Ben Barton

***

Abstract:      
This Essay examines what the Harry Potter series (and particularly 
the most recent book, The Half-Blood Prince) tells us about 
government and bureaucracy. There are two short answers. The first 
is that Rowling presents a government (The Ministry of Magic) that 
is 100% bureaucracy. There is no discernable executive or 
legislative branch, and no elections. There is a modified judicial 
function, but it appears to be completely dominated by the 
bureaucracy, and certainly does not serve as an independent check on 
governmental excess. 

Second, government is controlled by and for the benefit of the self-
interested bureaucrat. The most cold-blooded public choice theorist 
could not present a bleaker portrait of a government captured by 
special interests and motivated solely by a desire to increase 
bureaucratic power and influence. Consider this partial list of 
government activities: a) torturing children for lying; b) utilizing 
a prison designed and staffed specifically to suck all life and hope 
out of the inmates; c) placing citizens in that prison without a 
hearing; d) allows the death penalty without a trial; e) allowing 
the powerful, rich or famous to control policy and practice; f) 
selective prosecution (the powerful go unpunished and the unpopular 
face trumped-up charges); g) conducting criminal trials without 
independent defense counsel; h) using truth serum to force 
confessions; i) maintaining constant surveillance over all citizens; 
j) allowing no elections whatsoever and no democratic lawmaking 
process; k) controlling the press. 

This partial list of activities brings home just how bleak Rowling's 
portrait of government is. The critique is even more devastating 
because the governmental actors and actions in the book look and 
feel so authentic and familiar. Cornelius Fudge, the original 
Minister of Magic, perfectly fits our notion of a bumbling 
politician just trying to hang onto his job. Delores Umbridge is the 
classic small-minded bureaucrat who only cares about rules, 
discipline, and her own power. Rufus Scrimgeour is a George Bush-
like war leader, inspiring confidence through his steely resolve. 
The Ministry itself is made up of various sub-ministries with goofy 
names (e.g., The Goblin Liaison Office or the Ludicrous Patents 
Office) enforcing silly sounding regulations (e.g., The Decree for 
the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans or The Decree for the 
Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery). These descriptions of 
government jibe with our own sarcastic views of bureaucracy and 
bureaucrats: bureaucrats tend to be amusing characters that 
propagate and enforce laws of limited utility with unwieldy names. 
When you combine the light-hearted satire with the above list of 
government activities, however, Rowling's critique of government 
becomes substantially darker and more powerful. 

Furthermore, Rowling eliminates many of the progressive defenses of 
bureaucracy. The most obvious omission is the elimination of the 
democratic defense. The first line of attack against public choice 
theory is always that bureaucrats must answer to elected officials, 
who must in turn answer to the voters. Rowling eliminates this 
defense by presenting a wholly unelected government. 

A second line of defense is the public-minded bureaucrat. Some 
theorists argue that the public choice critique ignores what 
government officials are really like. They are not greedy, self-
interested budget-maximizers. Instead, they are decent and publicly 
oriented. Rowling parries this defense by her presentation of 
successful bureaucrats (who clearly fit the public choice model) and 
unsuccessful bureaucrats. Harry's best friend's Dad, Arthur Weasley 
is a well-meaning government employee. He is described as stuck in a 
dead end job, in the least respected part of the government, in the 
worst office in the building. In Rowling's world governmental virtue 
is disrespected and punished. 

Lastly, Rowling even eliminates the free press as a check on 
government power. The wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet, is 
depicted as a puppet to the whims of Ministry of Magic. I end the 
piece with some speculation about how Rowling came to her bleak 
vision of government, and the greater societal effects it might 
have. Speculating about the effects of Rowling's portrait of 
government is obviously dangerous, but it seems likely that we will 
see a continuing uptick in distrust of government and libertarianism 
as the Harry Potter generation reaches adulthood.