“Stupidity and human incompetence are the great evils, not ambition and glory”—Robert Greene
As the world progresses towards specialisation, technical advancements, scientific discoveries and artificial intelligence, one would imagine that space for incompetence, mismanagement and stupidity would shrink remarkably. Perhaps in some parts of the world this may be so but in many others, including our beautiful homeland, the scope for idiocy is expanding in leaps and bounds.
Almost every sphere of life, whether public or private, is predominantly full of unprofessional, incompetent, egoistic personnel that are mostly in prime positions not because of merit but on account of connections, nepotism and political affiliations. The consequences of decisions re-installing undeserving persons in positions of power are innumerable and visible in the form of chaos, lack of peace, disruption of law and order, poor diplomatic relations with foreign countries, internal strife, and most troublesome—monstrous growth of poverty and insecurity.
Where ‘you’ and ‘I’ come before ‘they’ in an environment that is deeply embedded in political and economic turmoil, the only reason that ‘they’ remain neglected is the intense level of insecurity among ‘you’ and ‘I’. If kakistocracy exists in full bloom, it is only to safeguard those who have played havoc with this country’s treasures and reduced the nation to a stage where the people fast lose creativity only to be replaced with a humdrum form of life. A question raised by Thomas Love Peacock more than two centuries before is quite apt for us too. He says: “Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people, or a kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools?”
Derived from two Greek words kakistos (meaning worst) and kratos (meaning rule), the literal meaning of kakistocracy is government by the worst people. One can say with confidence that where our country has witnessed various forms of government, only one thing has remained consistent, and that is kakistocracy coupled with kleptocracy. Critics have used these terms to describe governments in sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines, even Russia, and sometimes in the USA too. Pakistan will follow soon. In its November 2024 issue, The Economist named kakistocracy as ‘word of the year’.
If your country is governed by the most stupid people, you need to continue going up personally, while your nation and your country are going down, because your country will inevitably collapse and it will need people like you
Honestly speaking, it takes a committed and hard-working person ages to build but only a short instance for the wicked to destroy everything. This is well proven by the way our country has passed through tumultuous waves of incompetence with systematic erosion of our social, financial, political, judicial, legislative and executive structures. We did not need foreign invaders to inflict harm on us. This role has been ably played by those within our own system whose sole interest was augmenting their bank balances at the expense of the country’s resources, leaving the people ensnared by neo-colonial masters.
In an Op-ed published in 2023, Shahzad Chaudhry writes: “Corruption is a by-product of inefficient governance not the cause of it, though beyond a certain point the two feed off each other” while discussing whether Pakistan is ungovernable or not. He too has pointed out governance malfunctions as an outcome of inefficiencies but has suggested basic structural changes to manage problems and to restore the country’s faltering prowess by making a comeback to the drawing board.
Since economics is the pivot that revolves around the destiny of individuals and likewise nations, matters must not be taken lightly when it comes to finances. The world has perhaps understood this fact quite profoundly and that is why from the advent of this century, there is an acceleration in regulating the area of financial integrity. It has become difficult to move money around as was being done earlier by the past and present elites who are now more focused on protecting that loot rather than serving the country sincerely. In this endeavor, joining hands with true influencers is their only respite and of course, once in power, all sins are forgiven and forgotten.
Unfortunately, as kakistocracy thrives in full swing, it puffs up pockets of the incompetent, but bone dries inert talents of the people. There is hardly any room left for experts and faithful citizens to dedicate their services towards building the country as their contributions are negated by the domineering effects of corrupt mindsets. When those at the helm of affairs are unwilling to give people their constitutional rights, rather blatantly usurp them, then it results in reactions and counter reactions which, instead of settling down calmly, can cause an explosive situation which may be severely detrimental for the peace of any country.
The good thing is that history has a sinister way of recording everything. It has applauded benevolent emperors, criticized the kleptomaniacs, analysed in depth various reigns, eras spanning thousands of years and thousands of years to come. Where there is kakistocracy, the adverse effects are observed in a state’s economy, politics, and civil rights in addition to the deterioration of national character.
A few centuries back, there was a Moghul Emperor, Akbar who never had any formal education as he ascended the throne at mere fourteen years of age. One would imagine that an illiterate and immature king would be disastrous for the empire, but that was not so. He covered up his shortcomings by surrounding himself with the most efficient courtiers of his times. This meant that he had access to the best advice that helped him chalk out policies which enabled his reign to spread over forty-nine years and almost the entire Indian sub-continent.
Naturally, people can ask what they should do when they end up in a kakistocratic country. The best answer is given by a young Turkish playwright Mehmet Murat ildan in the following words: “If your country is governed by the most stupid people, you need to continue going up personally while your nation and your country is going down because your country will inevitably collapse and it will need people like you, people who managed to improve themselves while everything else was falling and deteriorating!”