A new administration: beyond (Henry) Fordism and the self-deceiving state

The emerging ideology and practices of reversals conflict with normal professionalism and normal bureaucracy. In India, change is impeded by culture, bureaucratic conservatism and corruption. Fordist reflexes are normal, in which standard solutions are imposed on diverse environments. Fordist programmes often misfit local conditions, but are sustained by the false positive feedback of a self-deceiving state. Agricultural research and extension, canal irrigation and waterbed management present cases both of inappropriate large-scale Fordism and of new, though small-scale, approaches and opportunities for reversals. For the future, decentralisation, open communications of rights, and organisation of demand from the grassroots provide means to moderate Fordism, reduce falsehood in Government administration, and support a new style and mode of administration. For such change, personal reversals by influential officials are crucial.

Paper for the IDS Retreat on 11-12 December 1989