If a nation is essentially disunited,
it is left to the government to hold it
together. This increases the expense of
government, and reduces correpondingly
the amount of economic resources that
could be used for developing the country.
And it should not be forgotten how small
those resource are in a poor and backward
country. Where the cost of government is
high, resources for development are
correspondingly low.
This may be illustrated by comparing the
position of a nation with that of a
private business enterprise. An enterprise
has to incur certain costs and expenses
in order to stay in business. For our
purposes, we are concerned only with one
kind of cost--the cost of managing and
administering the business. Such
administrative overheads in business are
analogous to the cost of government in a
nation. The administrative overheads of a
business are low to the extent that
everyone working in the business can be
trusted to behave in a way that best
promotes the interests of the firm.
If they can each be trusted to take such
responsibilites, and to exercise such
initiative as falls within their sphere,
then administrative overheads will be low.
It will be low because it will be necessary
to have only one man looking after each
job, without having another man to check
upon what he is doing, keep him in line,
and report on him to someone else. But
if no one can be trusted to act in a loyal
and responsible manner towards his job,
then the business will require armies of
administrators, checkers and foremen, and
administrative overheads will rise
correspondingly. As administrative overheads
rise, so the earnings of the business
after meeting the expense of administration,
will fall; and the business will have less
money to distribute as dividends or invest
directly in its future progress and
development.
It is precisely the same with a nation.
To the extent that the people can be relied
upon to have in a loyal and responsible
manner, the government does not require
armies of police and civil servants to
keep them in order. But if a nation is
disunited, the government cannot be sure
that the actions of the people will be
in the interests of the nation; and it
will have to watch, check, and control
the people accordingly. A disunited
nation therefore has to incur unduly
high costs of government.
RAYMOND FROST The Backward Society