How Governments work

This small book started as talks given at various fora, from 1992 onwards. The talks were later collated and rewritten several times over eleven years to bring them into the present form. The first few paragraphs, which had set the stage for the talks, are presented below:‘bismillah ar Rehman ar Rahim“. (In the name of God, most Benevolent, ever Merciful).“This talk is less dependent on scholarship and more on observation and inference, and has a solutions orientation. Purists amongst you may find this distressing. But I will try to be objective and non-partisan, if this is at all possible.“I have opted for using a vast canvas for this review of THE PHILOSOPHY OF GOVERNMENT, but many of you may have mostly forgotten about more things than I have ever known regarding any of the aspects here. Therefore I request your indulgence.“I also give in to ‘streams of consciousness’ now and then, and bring in aspects which may seem to be tangential to the main arguments. If this penchant is viewed sympathetically some of you may find that such ‘deviations’ actually expound the philosophies of government presented here. Or present how practice and theory find a divergence or convergence. Scholars may even find my habit of bringing ‘notes’ into the main text exasperating. But then this is not a talk intended for scholars. It also does not pretend to any scholarship. Even the word ‘philosophy’ is not used in its rigid academic sense.“I will also be deviating from an essential requirement of scholarship by not articulating all that I wish to say. This I plan to do in the interests of brevity and in my respect for all