Abstract
In a delightful, instructive book, The March of Folly (Ballantine Books, New
York, 1985), Barbara Tuchman explains the distinction between what she calls
misgovernment (in general), and one of its particular manifestations, folly:
Misgovernment is of four kinds, often in combination. They are: ) tyranny
or oppression, ....; 2) excessive ambition, ....; 3) incompetence or deca-
dence, ....; and 4) folly or perversity. This book is concerned with the last
in a specific manifestation; the pursuit of policy contrary to the self-interest
of the constituency or state involved
To qualify as folly, the policy must meet three criteria: it must have been
perceived as counter-productive in its own time, not merely by hindsight
... Secondly,' a feasible course of action must have been available. To
remove the problem from personality, a third criterion must be that the
policy in question must be that of a group, not an individual ruler, and should
persist beyond any one political lifetime ....
With her usual erudition, she goes on to illustrate the rather common occurrence
of folly throughout human history — from King Priam's decision to bring in the
Trojan Horse, to the perverse policies of the Renaissance Popes which provoked the
Protestant secession, to England's loss of her American colonies due to the policies
of George Ill, and finally, to America's more recent folly in Vietnam — and draws
conclusions about contributing factors:
Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a
remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in
terms of preconceived fixed notions While ignoring or rejecting any
contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to
be deflected by the facts ...
Arshad Zaman. (1995) THE GOVERNMENTS PRESENT AGREEMENT WITH THE IMF: Misgovernment or Folly?*, Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Volume-11, Issue-1.
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