Pop quiz

by | Mar 11, 2008


Who set out this admirable vision of decentralised policy coherence?

Without democracy, you have no understanding of what is happening down below; the situation will be unclear; you will be unable to collect sufficient opinion from all sides; there can be no communication between top and bottom; top-level organs of leadership will depend on one-sided and incorrect material to decide issues, thus you will find it difficult to avoid being subjective; it will be impossible to achieve unity of understanding and unity of action.

That’s right: it was, of course, Chairman Mao.  Speaking shortly after the Great Leap Forward.  Obviously.

Author

  • Alex Evans

    Alex Evans is founder of Larger Us, which explores how we can use psychology to reduce political tribalism and polarisation, a senior fellow at New York University, and author of The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough? (Penguin, 2017). He is a former Campaign Director of the 50 million member global citizen’s movement Avaaz, special adviser to two UK Cabinet Ministers, climate expert in the UN Secretary-General’s office, and was Research Director for the Business Commission on Sustainable Development. Alex lives with his wife and two children in Yorkshire.


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