quarta-feira, abril 30, 2003
Os Fluxos de Informação nas Ditaduras
Transcrevo uma análise interessante que encontrei na página da ALS sobre o assunto supracitado:
Two separate events in the early months of this year highlighted a fairly consistent characteristic of totalitarian regimes.
One event was in China. Judging by the recent sackings of two high officials and the re-evaluation of the number of SARS cases, it seems likely that the highest authorities in the land were not fully aware of the disease's reach until well into the epidemic.
The other was in Iraq. Most of the major bridges were wired to explode, yet they remained standing. Perhaps the retreats and desertions were so precipitous that no one had a chance to press the necessary triggers. Perhaps. More likely, no one had the authority to do so.
The lessons are that in a totalitarian state:
local, and especially individual, initiative is dangerous
consequently, all decisions have to be taken at the top
bad news is not well received, so it is slow to make its way up the chain, if it ever does
consequently, there is inaction at the local level
In the case of Iraq, it seems likely that early isolation of the command level from the local level ensured local inaction.
Contrast this with a relatively free society like Australia. Here, even though there is arse-covering within government bureaucracies which restricts the flow of bad news upwards, the media with its emphasis on worst-case scenarios frequently allows this restriction to be bypassed.
And were it Australian soldiers controlling those bridge demolitions, the great majority of the bridges would now be piles of rubble. This would in part be because the authority to make the last-minute decision would have been delegated to those on the spot, but mostly because they would not have to fear the firing squad should they make a mistake.
posted by Miguel Noronha 9:07 da manhã
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