A Former Harvard President Saves the World (Or Tries)

By Konstantin P. Kakaes

contributing writer

I can’t quite tell if this book is far too long or far too short. It begins, “on a warm spring day in 1985.” Derek Bok, the former president of Harvard University, proceeds to mention a conversation with Tip O’Neill, then Speaker of the House, on that warm spring day. Bok, upon finishing the story, proceeds to disappear. Having already mentioned in the short preface that he began the book in 1992 as he was retiring from Harvard’s presidency, Bok does not again refer to his substantial pedagogic experience. His book on “why our government [is] not working better and how it [can] be improved,” relies rather on survey piled on opinion poll. It is an impressive collation, but I felt more enlightened about the state of government in America today after reading a four-page essay by Lewis Lapham in Harper’s.

The Trouble With Government is divided into four sections: “Is Anything Wrong,” “Looking for Reasons,” “Remedies” and “The Role of the People.” Bok approaches the question of the first section in several ways: through surveys of whether the public thinks things have gotten worse, surveys of whether they have and comparative surveys of the United States and other industrialized countries. He concludes that people think things have gotten worse while in fact they have gotten better, just not as quickly as they improved in other industrialized nations. This comparative approach does not quite make sense, as Bok, for reasons of space, has neglected to discuss the foreign policy of the United States, or anything about the rest of the world. The only mention of people who are not residents of the United States is brief and for comparative purposes. His scope is somehow peculiar; if his ethic concern with the state of government is to be taken seriously, one can’t help but feel that he must consider the billions of people outside of the United States—the book as it is has the solipsistic tone for which Americans are unfortunately famous.

The first section concludes with the realization that the federal government has been important both in causing and solving our domestic problems, and that it will continue to be so. It will continue, Bok says, because a large majority of Americans say it is so. If government is then important, we must find what its problems are, and we must outline solutions. Who is it that causes government’s problems? Bok lines up the usual suspects: special interests, the media and elected officials. He concludes that the demonization of these three groups is exaggerated, citing a variety of studies that indicate this, while hedging his bets by citing others who disagree. It is Bok’s attempt at even-handedness here, as elsewhere, that both lengthens the book and makes it less interesting. His attempt to reduce what are often matters of opinion to matters of fact is futile—the extensive facts he cites tend to be balanced, and thus inconclusive, so he is forced to give his opinion in the end. From a man of his stature, it is precisely this that we wish to hear.

When he does find his voice, it is a pleasure to read: “Asking people what ails the federal government is a bit like asking Boston Red Sox fans why their team isn’t doing better. There are plenty of ideas—some ingenious, some helpful, some bizarre—but none offers a fully adequate explanation for the team’s performance.” The social scientist in him too often overrides this voice; the book is too rigidly structured into 150 pages outlining the problems (Section II) followed by a 150 pages of prospective solutions. By the time we finish reading what the problems are, we are thoroughly frustrated both with our government and with Bok. When he finally starts to discuss the solutions, he must repeat the problems anyway, for by now we have forgotten what the problem was. As a consequence of this structure, he waits until late in the book to discuss what is arguably the central problem of American government: campaign finance. He addresses campaign finance reform in the section on remedies, rather than the section on problems. When he does come to it, he dismisses (with good cause) many proposed reforms, and comes to the pessimistic conclusion that money and politics are inextricably linked—any reform that is meaningful has no chance of being implemented, and any reform that can be implemented will do essentially nothing. True, perhaps, but one might as well just read Catch-22, which is more fun at any rate.

The most insightful parts of The Trouble with Government are those discussing inefficiencies in government. Though Bok sadly falls prey to the modern idolatry of the market, he does identify several points where useful reform is possible. He makes a fairly conclusive case that both legislation and executive regulations are designed less coherently and less skillfully in the United States than in other industrialized democracies. He outlines the reasons for this—our federalist system and bicameral legislature, and the fragmented structure of Congressional committees. He proposes several workable solutions within our framework, most of which boil down to strengthening the political parties and their ability to discipline individual lawmakers. He comes out persuasively against term limits and ballot initiatives, using sociological research wisely to show that having inexperienced lawmakers deal with complicated issues is a liability.

The methodology that is so useful in cases like this is grossly inapplicable to wider social issues—Bok underplays the negative influence of television, for example. The role of government in determining quality of life is large, but not quantifiable; if children fight with their parents, if pop music has become derivative and commercialized, if Hollywood films pander to our baser instincts while better movies are made in Europe, our government is partially to blame. Bok’s attempt to quantify its role in these things fails, but when he is confined to a less overarching set of problems, he has some very interesting things to say.

The Trouble With Government

by Derek Bok

Harvard University Press

493 pp., $35