The Powerlessness of Powerful Government

Abstract

Governments have two functions: they must make policy and they must put their policies to work in society. In the popular press, governments are victorious when they are able to get their programs enacted and they lose when the opposition is able to defeat it. However, this chapter argues, in making policy work, the challenge is just as much or more in the actual implementation. Decisions count for the political class, but it is the implementation of policy that is important for society. This chapter asks some basic questions that will be answered in the rest of the book: what is government? What does government do? How can they get it right?

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