Book 4, Chapter 17: Jammed Machinations
...as such, the methods by which appointments to offices and positions are handled are of supreme importance to avoid or at least reduce the development of entrenched interests and corruption.
Generally speaking, systems of organization that allow for appointment to offices by patronage are highly susceptible to corruption due to the fact that such appointees are typically more concerned with the needs of their patron than they are with the needs of their office—or, conversely, those who show inadequate concerns for the needs of their patron typically find themselves removed and replaced with more compliant individuals. Unfortunately, systems of patronage are typical in environments where the organization is the personal concern of the head individual, such as in absolute monarchies, dictatorships, private businesses and corporations, and other such institutions, where, so long as the patron is satisfied with the performance of their appointee, the appointee can make use of their position for personal gain. In the worst cases, positions can literally be available for purchase, with the understanding or even expectation that they will be used for personal profit by the purchaser.
Conversely, systems of organization that require merit and competence to be appointed to official positions and are kept accountable to those that they serve tend to show lower rates of corruption and abuse of office. This is not to say that they are immune—especially for those systems which underpay their functionaries, who somehow need to recoup the difference between their wages and those resources necessary for survival, and turn to corruption of their office as a means to do so—but such systems allowing for the ability to remove a misbehaving office-holder from their position without needing the consent of potentially corrupt managers have a means by which to directly reduce and react to corruption.
In the end, the difference is between that of a king distributing personal fiefs to his friends for them to manage as they see fit, versus that of a government appointing managers who are answerable to their constituents.
—Nationbuilding: How People Move, Talk, Think, Organize, & Structure Themselves, 1888, Amsterdam University Press
Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Call-Back: The Screaming Death attacking a farm when it was rampaging and trying to kill Hiccup and co is referenced when a relative of the deceased brings it up as a way to attack Hiccup for him having dragons.
- Content Warnings:Chapter Trigger Warnings: Explicit Mention of Execution, Explicit Mentions of Religious Corruption, Explicit Mention of Sexual Exploitation, Explicit Mention of Torture, Explicit Depiction of Sexism, Non-Explicit Depiction and Mention of Police Brutality
- "Eureka!" Moment: Toireasa realises she can ask Taskill for how he trains spies compared to Alvin's methods.
- Police Brutality: Discussed. There was an incident where guards were too harsh with a prisoner who turned out to be innocent that prompted Viggo to implement limits on use of force against unsentenced prisoners.
- Wham Episode: Rodhlaug made it all the way to Al Jazīra Al-Khadrā, and Viggo gives her to Alvin and Delilah, who leap at the opportunity to get their own lever.
