Governance

We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us. - Ken Levine

To Govern Is To Choose a Future

Ted Sorensen, who crafted President John F. Kennedy’s most famous speeches, defined governance this way: “To govern is to choose.” Sorensen’s aphorism is eloquent and straightforward, endearing in its parsimony and elegance. What an institution chooses is policy: to act one way versus an alternative way. It chooses one future over another. Politics is how the institution chooses it's future. When alternative futures of consequence to the institution appear, we have anissue. The choice of action on an issue temporarily ends debate about the institution’s alternative futures by selecting one future. The moment an institution sees itself as having to select is also the greatest opportunity to have maximum control over the consequences of selecting. It is the decision point.

Effective decision makers try to see decision points , to think new thoughts, and see new options. Inevitably, in the absence of undisputed facts, sufficient clear analyses, and abundant lead time, decision makers face pressure to weigh unweighables, compare incomparables, and develop conviction by consensus. They arbitrate and placate their fellows to avoid end runs and, in general, try to “keep things under control.”

The label we assign to an actor in governance can change with the role that actor plays. “Decision maker” and “policy maker” are not identical, though we often use them interchangeably. A decision maker acting on behalf of a group, or recognized by a group as acting on its behalf or in a way that affects it, is a “policy maker,” a decision maker with authority. An actor carrying out a preceding "decision" makes further decisions. We can examine what an actor does as decision maker as well as implementer. One assertion hiding behind these statements is that any decision roots in someone’s preceding policy choice. Another is that all choices in politics are, ultimately, about ends, alternative futures.

Why Bureaucracy in Governance

A policy maker would not intentionally select as an end something for which the institution has insufficient means. To choose implies that one has the time, talent, and treasure to implement the choice. Regular access to resources allows a governing institution to build assets and become self- sustaining—including a bureaucracy capable of implementing the policy and assessing performance. When resources of these kinds are sufficient, it is usually because the members of that governing institution consider the governors and governance legitimate.