Mulgan, Good and bad power

Geoff Mulgan was head of policy to Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street, and has held other positions in government at various levels, so he is familiar with power as it is actually practiced. In this book, he looks at the principles underlying government, and asks whether there is such a thing as ethics in politics.

Mulgan takes an historical and global approach, using thinker such as Kautilya (India). He traces the development of government from the earlies times.

He argues that gvernments have tried to fulfil four basic needs:

1. to protect
2. welfare
3. justice
4. and truth,

although governments have met those needs in different ways and to different extents. Indeed, all governments also meet the need of government officials and the state itself.

People, Mulgan argues, have found four ways to counter-act this:

1. contests for power, such as elections
2. division of power
3. the rule of laws
4. visibility, such as freedom of the press.

These devices tend to reduce the extent that states serve officials.

Mulgan is particularly interested in democracy. Democracy, he argues, is potentially subject to decay and corruption, as are all forms of government. Democracies are particularly vulnerable to abstract ideas, which can often mask failures in reality. But democracy also enables an increased role for civil society that can stand against the power of the state.

He concludes by considering globalisation and the move towards global government. He concludes that this will be an extension of the forms of national government, and requiring the same ethical standards.

• Guardian review of Good and bad power
• thoughts about Good and bad power: not really a review, more of a discussion and response
• publisher's page on Good and bad power — it is now out in paperback

Mulgan, Geoff. Good and bad power: the ideals and betrayals of government. 2006, Allen Lane, London. hardback. 374 pages.