Tag Archives: government

White Paper: The Debate — Competing Visions for a Post-Mullah Iran

Posted on March 2, 2026 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Agreement that the Islamic Republic must end is considerably easier to achieve than agreement about what should replace it. Among the forces arrayed against the regime — diaspora communities, internal opposition movements, ethnic minority parties, labor organizations, feminist … Continue reading →

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The Challenge Of Ensuring Bureaucratic Accountability

Posted on December 13, 2024 by nathanalbright

The phenomenon of bureaucratic autonomy and resistance to political control has been extensively studied in political science and public administration literature. This challenge, often termed “bureaucratic drift” or “agency problems,” emerges through several key mechanisms that warrant careful examination. Principal-agent … Continue reading →

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The Development and Distribution of Cabinet Portfolios: A Global Analysis

Posted on December 6, 2024 by nathanalbright

The structure and size of national cabinets reflects both administrative needs and political priorities across different societies and time periods. Historical analysis reveals a general trend toward larger cabinets throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, with most developed nations … Continue reading →

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Put Up Or Shut Up

Posted on January 17, 2023 by nathanalbright

Recently I have watched a few videos from people who are seeking to support the development of rail transportation in the United States as a supplement (or even a replacement) to America’s driving. There are polls that demonstrate that a … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Utopia Of Rules

Posted on July 30, 2020 by nathanalbright

The Utopia Of Rules:  On Technology, Stupidity, And The Secret Joys Of Bureaucracy, by David Graeber One of the most telling aspects of this book is the way that the author’s straw man argumentation against Mises and refusal to seriously … Continue reading →

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A School In Self-Government

Posted on July 7, 2020 by nathanalbright

How does one go about raising human beings who are capable of responsible self-government?  One of the characteristic problems of human history has been that we are hypocritically an order of beings that refuses to be restrained or governed from … Continue reading →

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The Road To Hell Is Paid In Value Added Taxes

Posted on October 22, 2019 by nathanalbright

As I write this particular paragraph I am sitting in the dark lobby of the Sunset Shores Resort in Villa Bay, St. Vincent, waiting for a taxi that was supposed to have been ordered by our hotel after numerous confirmations … Continue reading →

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On The Necessity Of Government

Posted on June 4, 2019 by nathanalbright

Generally speaking, it can be fairly said that I am no friend to government.  As a person of fairly high levels of native cynicism about humanity in general, my default feelings for those who seek and obtain positions of authority … Continue reading →

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On The Role Of Government In The Fostering Of Innovation And Creativity

Posted on May 24, 2019 by nathanalbright

In his book Innovators, writer Walter Isaacson makes a strong case for the importance of the role and legitimacy of government in fostering innovation and creativity through the development of public goods like the infrastructure of the internet.  In the … Continue reading →

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Quos Deus Vult Perdere, Prius Dementat

Posted on September 7, 2017 by nathanalbright

One of the great tragedies of historical reputation is the way that people think of King Louis XVI and Queen Antoinette the way their libelous critics thought of them, as monarchs who had no concern for the fate of their … Continue reading →

Posted in American Civil War, American History, History, Military History, Musings | Tagged , , | 3 Comments