Seeing Like a State: Difference between revisions

{{Quote|No battle — Tarutino, Borodino, or Austerlitz — takes place as those who planned it anticipated. That is an essential condition.

:—Tolstoy, ''War and Peace''}}

This one goes to the top of [[JC]]’s 2020 lockdown re-reads. It was published in 1998, so it’s a bit late to get excited — but while it addresses the “[[high modernism]]” of 20th Century government, the read-across to the capitalist market economy, and beyond that into the interior workings of ''any'' large corporation — are you reading, boss?<ref>Boss: “Yes, [[JC]], I am. Now, [[get your coat]].”</ref> — shrieks from every page. These are profound ideas we all ''should'' recognise, and which could transform the effectiveness of what we all do, but — being, well, citizens of a “prostrate civil society” — either we can’t or we ’’won’t.’’