Grazing Public Goods: Pressure Groups in Liberal Democracy
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150301 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
GRAZING PUBLIC GOODS: PRESSURE GROUPS IN
LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
AMITASINGH
A competitive spread
of
interest groups in a neo-liberal state
has changed the nature
of
politics by dispersing authority to
govern. Most groups function with a plea to overcome capacity
deficits
of
the government
and
for
strengthening democratic
participation. While some may be driven by altruistic service
provider to people
and
the nation, most others have proved to
be self-interest seeking pressure groups
or
lobbies to camouflage
constitutional safeguards to accountable governance. The recent
past
and implementation
of
flagship programmes has proved that
they offer substantial benefits to the state
in
terms
of
sustained
political support
but
also increase citizens ' vulnerability to
lack
of
distributive justice. Most groups become unaccountable
partners in governance
and
distribution
of
public goods to
weaken democratic institutions. The plea
of
this article is to
insist
on
administrative reforms as a priority agenda at least in
three directions; capacity enhancement
and
professionalism
of
every level ofbureaucracy, linking state training institutions with
central universities,
and
strengthen accountability structures
for
public-private partnerships
and
collaborative networks.
This article attempts to capture this change
and
suggest ways
to re-route the tilt from a group oriented governance
to
the
strengthening
of
constitutional institutions.
Institutions and Collective Choice
INSTITUTIONS ARE a central concern
of
governance as they define rules
for the distribution
of
public goods. Where do they come from and how
do they translate individual human choices into interlocking and binding
rules for the society? Theoreticians and scholars have tried to find an
answer to this perplexing question
of
collective action from time to time
through an understanding
of
their socio-political ethos and the processes
of
development. The problem is not
as
simple as it may appear to be in the
first place
as
the search
is
not confined merely to a study
of
social norms,
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