Pass The No-Doze

'Any Organization Will, In the End, Be Run By Those Who Stay Awake in Committee'

The most important part of the argument to me is this:

Ultimately, bringing the round to a successful conclusion and ensuring the WTO's longer-term relevance depend on tackling its systemic problems. A much expanded post-Uruguay-Round agenda has broadened sectoral coverage and gone much deeper into politically-sensitive domestic regulation. This has resulted in a loss of focus and a drift towards multiple and contradictory objectives. Hyperinflation of the membership has almost crippled decision making. The WTO has become much more politicised, buffeted by external criticism and with deep internal fissures. These are all symptoms of the "UN-isation" of the WTO.

Now quite obviously there are those who would welcome the "UN-isation" of anything, from the methods we use to play with kittens to world governance. You may not be all that surprised to find out that I don't agree. Such -isation really seems to mean that the structure is run by those who stay awake in committee meetings.

I would, and do, argue that this is, in fact, the inevitable fate of all and any organizations, so much so that we might call it Worstall's Law of Organizations, perhaps a minor corollary to Parkinson's Laws...

...The mission creep that is the effect of those not slumbering in meetings and thus adding another bright idea to the tasks the organization attempts is not restricted to the public sector.

Private companies are just as vulnerable. However in that private sector we have a mechanism by which the seemingly inevitable bureaucratization is dealt with. Once it happens, the organization goes bankrupt and is removed from the scene. What we need is a similar system to deal with this process in the public sphere.

In other words, screwed-up companies eventually go bankrupt. But screwed-up bureaucracies live forever - or until enough political will is gathered to put a stake in their hearts.

So there is a reason to stay awake in those meetings.

Hat Tip to Instapundit.