What is the phenomenon of ‘ungoverning’?
What is the phenomenon of ‘ungoverning’?
A few months before Donald Trump entered the White House, Nancy Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead, well-known professors of political science and governance at American universities, published a book titled ‘Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos.’ Nancy Rosenblum is an 80-year-old professor of ethics and governance at Harvard University, and Russell Muirhead is a 60-year-old politician and the head of the government department at Dartmouth College in the U.S.
The word ‘ungoverning’ can be roughly translated to ‘ungovernance.’
The purpose of these professors in writing this book was and is to explore how a government can be ‘ungoverned.’ Just last week, both professors jointly published a detailed article under the same title on the Foreign Affairs website.
Although their intended focus is the current U.S. government and Trump himself, the characteristics and features they define, and the term ‘ungovernance’ they introduced to political science, apply to countries where opposition parties and groups neither care about national interests nor the future of their country.
Rosenblum and Muirhead provide comprehensive definitions of ‘ungoverning’ a government or ‘ungoverning’ a state.
Although from the perspective of these two analysts, Trump and the Republican Party are seeking to ‘ungovern’ the U.S. government, in our country, Iran, there are other groups, parties, and individuals pursuing this policy.
While in our country, hopes of lifting sanctions are budding, suddenly extremist groups emerge trying to dry up these buds. One must consider why their interests lie in the continuation of sanctions or even the continued severance of relations with the U.S.
What happens is the disillusionment of the people, which is precisely the goal pursued in ‘ungoverning.’
According to Rosenblum and Muirhead, ‘ungoverning’ takes advantage of the wave of disillusionment created by the dysfunction of government bureaucracy.
Its aim is not institutional reform but rather deconstruction. Essentially, ‘ungoverning’ a government involves deliberate disruption of the usual order among the people.
A clear example can be seen in the issues of the hijab law or internet filtering. Other examples can also be mentioned where these groups, by opposing institutions and popular ideas, attempt to ‘ungovern’ the government.
Another method these groups use to ‘ungovern’ the government is through attacks on the government’s efficiency. Through these attacks, they aim to reduce the government’s ability to develop and implement policies believed by statesmen to improve national public welfare.
From Rosenblum and Muirhead’s perspective, the directives issued by extremist groups to ‘ungovern’ a government can include the following:
1. Reduce the capacity of the existing government by diverting and bypassing ministries and institutions.
In this context, you can look at the economic policies the government is trying to implement and the counterattacks by opposing groups. For example, the government is attempting to join the FATF, as it is a global treaty that even Russia and China are members of, while only Iran and North Korea are not benefiting from it. However, the opposing groups benefiting from Iran’s non-membership have launched objections against Iran joining the FATF without providing convincing reasons. When asked about the significant costs Iran pays for not being a member, they try to even divert this question.
2. Comprehensive attacks on executive experiences and specialized topics. In this regard, just look at the attackers and their targeted subjects. Interestingly, one of these attackers, for example, wanted to debate with the Minister of Economic Affairs about the FATF.
They lower the level of debate to such an extent that a specialist feels embarrassed to sit in the debate. What happens in these types of debates is that the non-specialist starts chanting slogans, while the opposing specialist is forced into silence.
3. Comprehensive attacks on customary executive methods. The government, in order to improve people’s livelihood, is forced to take a series of actions, actions that may endanger the interests of influential groups, such as combating fuel smuggling.
How is it possible to easily steal airplane fuel with two kilometers of pipeline without influential groups being aware of it? When the government takes action to counter it, the opposing groups enter from another door and attack the government or its head under various pretexts.
4. Indifferentizing people towards reducing the government’s capacity. Extremist groups fear the presence of people everywhere, from elections to supporting the government. Therefore, they try to make people indifferent to the actions taken by the government in any way possible.
Their actions include reducing the government’s executive capacity. The head of the government promised to lift filtering, but they prevent its implementation. The government promised to lift sanctions, but by attacking the government’s foreign policy, they want to prevent further actions.
They try in various ways to put the government against the people by enforcing the hijab and chastity law.
The ‘ungoverning’ of a government or ‘ungoverning’ of a state has a long history in Iran. The extremist groups, with the crises they create, have no goal other than ‘ungoverning’ the government. For them, national interests are not important; what matters is that the government becomes ‘ungoverned.’
If this happens, they have achieved their goal, but ‘ungoverning’ a government also has severe consequences. Among them are the setbacks in development, the worsening of livelihoods, and the loss of Iran’s position in the regional geopolitics, which are among the risks that can be imposed on the country.