Wow. Here I am trying to figure out how to give a good kick in the arse to my humdrum mid-level policy career, and there Gordon Brown is, trying to decide whether to be Prime Minister of the U.K. or Director of the I.M.F.
These people at the top step in and out like they’re at Lannigan’s ball. Mary Robinson has never been forgiven for ditching the Irish presidency early to become U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. And Horst Kohler just left the I.M.F. on a day’s notice to pursue his presidential ambitions in Germany. Even when I was temping at Railtrack, I never left a job before finishing out the week.
Finding a replacement for Horst will be trickier than phoning in a starving grad student who can type 90 wpm (yes, 90, in warm weather. and I make quite decent coffee. offers?). By tradition it has to be a European, but one the White House can stomach. The Germans have had their turn and the French are on an extended visit to Coventry (though Haiti may change that.). Neither would be keen on having a Brit in the job (dogs in the manger), so we’ll probably end up with a dreary technocrat just like the last one.
Meanwhile, the musical chairs dance of top European jobs is getting into a whirl. The current cabinet of EU commissioners retires this summer and the accession countries will have their coming out ball in the autumn. Cue some blushing debutantes and plenty of Becky Sharps.
The outgoing commissioners have full dance cards too. Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Anna Diamantoupoulou, chucked in her job last month to get stuck into an election campaign in Greece. Margot Wallstrom, Commissioner for the Environment. took over Diamantoupoulou’s job on top of her own, and instantly left on a winter holiday. Erkki Likaanen of DG Info Soc is plunging back into Finnish politics and hoping for the top job. Chris Patten is double- jobbing as head of DG External Relations and Chancellor of Oxford, and his Brussels appearances are increasingly few and far between. And then you have the true blue Type As, like Frits Bolkestein who’s desperate to move up from D.G. Internal Market to the uber-ministry D.G. Competition.
And there’s the original unknown quantity, David Byrne, who’s achieved far more in Consumer Affairs than most of the talking heads in the Cabinet. Byrne was Ireland’s second or third choice (after others had been disqualified ), and was nominated so late that the high profile D.G.s were already taken. But he has been such an effective commissioner that the world really is his oxter, and the Commission has almost forgiven us for Padraig Flynn.
Figuring out what to do after a term as a commissioner is still quite delicate. The ambitious majority struggle to reinsert themselves into national politics, often being pushed several rungs down the ladder by the stay-at-home politicians who sent them away in the first place. A generation or two of decent Tories (‘Well, if you like Europe so much, why don’t you just go/stay there?’) have struggled with this one.
But anyway, back to Gordon Brown. I imagine he’s only letting the story of the I.M.F’s interest be known to remind TB how difficult Brown would be to replace. Today’s Guardian seems to think that Patricia Hewitt is favourite to succeed the man with a brain the size of a planet. Putting Hewitt - who has a magpie’s eye for bright new initiatives but can hardly shock and awe the intellectual heavyweights - into the Treasury would just be cruel. Remember how downtrodden and despised by his own civil servants poor Nigel Lawson was?
But if he is seriously thinking about changing jobs, Brown may be at one of those crossroads that life can seem to lead inexorably towards; one where each choice represents a competing set of self-image and ambition.
Brown at the IMF could be that rare thing; a visionary with the clout to get things done. Think what he could do to re-structure developing country debt. This is a man who stays up at night thinking precisely how to use the levers of government policy to increase social justice. This is a man who can put a hopeful glint in the eye of an economist. His global impact could be phenomenal, and do the most to help the people who need it the most. But it would also be diffuse.
Whereas Brown at No. 10 could finally run the show. Although his micro-managing Treasury already has unprecedented control over policy minutiae in almost every other ministry, Prime Minister Brown would run foreign policy as well. And it’s now or never.
Either way, of course, he’ll still have to kowtow to the White House.
Anyway, putting aside the perks and the power, all these people are struggling with how and where to make the most contribution (and further their careers); in national or international politics. Nationally, you can have a more immediate impact and much more contact with the people you’re actually serving. At the EU or further afield, there may be more overall influence, but it’s diluted and deflected through more layers of implementation.
That’s globalisation for you. And the high-flyers aren’t the only ones trying to decide…
“Think what he could do to re-structure developing country debt. “
This is funny. Really funny. What could he do to deal with developing country debt? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The IMF is an absolute failure. It has never seriously pursued any of its supposed goals. Its function is to take blame.
Stiglitz, in an interview a few months after the publication of his masterful Globilsation and its Discontents, stated that he believes the only solution to the IMF may be to destroy it and to start over from scratch. This is the only way that the developing world will ever get a fair shake on their debts. No European neoliberal technocrat in the world can accomplish anything good through working at the IMF.
“Here I am, brain the size of a planet and they ask me to take you down to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction?”
I dunno. After reading Globalization and its Discontents, it seems that Stiglitz’s problems with the IMF arose over a fundamental shift in what he terms the “Washington Consensus” in recent years.
À Gauche
Jeremy Alder
Amaravati
Anggarrgoon
Audhumlan Conspiracy
H.E. Baber
Philip Blosser
Paul Broderick
Matt Brown
Diana Buccafurni
Brandon Butler
Keith Burgess-Jackson
Certain Doubts
David Chalmers
Noam Chomsky
The Conservative Philosopher
Desert Landscapes
Denis Dutton
David Efird
Karl Elliott
David Estlund
Experimental Philosophy
Fake Barn County
Kai von Fintel
Russell Arben Fox
Garden of Forking Paths
Roger Gathman
Michael Green
Scott Hagaman
Helen Habermann
David Hildebrand
John Holbo
Christopher Grau
Jonathan Ichikawa
Tom Irish
Michelle Jenkins
Adam Kotsko
Barry Lam
Language Hat
Language Log
Christian Lee
Brian Leiter
Stephen Lenhart
Clayton Littlejohn
Roderick T. Long
Joshua Macy
Mad Grad
Jonathan Martin
Matthew McGrattan
Marc Moffett
Geoffrey Nunberg
Orange Philosophy
Philosophy Carnival
Philosophy, et cetera
Philosophy of Art
Douglas Portmore
Philosophy from the 617 (moribund)
Jeremy Pierce
Punishment Theory
Geoff Pynn
Timothy Quigley (moribund?)
Conor Roddy
Sappho's Breathing
Anders Schoubye
Wolfgang Schwartz
Scribo
Michael Sevel
Tom Stoneham (moribund)
Adam Swenson
Peter Suber
Eddie Thomas
Joe Ulatowski
Bruce Umbaugh
What is the name ...
Matt Weiner
Will Wilkinson
Jessica Wilson
Young Hegelian
Richard Zach
Psychology
Donyell Coleman
Deborah Frisch
Milt Rosenberg
Tom Stafford
Law
Ann Althouse
Stephen Bainbridge
Jack Balkin
Douglass A. Berman
Francesca Bignami
BlunkettWatch
Jack Bogdanski
Paul L. Caron
Conglomerate
Jeff Cooper
Disability Law
Displacement of Concepts
Wayne Eastman
Eric Fink
Victor Fleischer (on hiatus)
Peter Friedman
Michael Froomkin
Bernard Hibbitts
Walter Hutchens
InstaPundit
Andis Kaulins
Lawmeme
Edward Lee
Karl-Friedrich Lenz
Larry Lessig
Mirror of Justice
Eric Muller
Nathan Oman
Opinio Juris
John Palfrey
Ken Parish
Punishment Theory
Larry Ribstein
The Right Coast
D. Gordon Smith
Lawrence Solum
Peter Tillers
Transatlantic Assembly
Lawrence Velvel
David Wagner
Kim Weatherall
Yale Constitution Society
Tun Yin
History
Blogenspiel
Timothy Burke
Rebunk
Naomi Chana
Chapati Mystery
Cliopatria
Juan Cole
Cranky Professor
Greg Daly
James Davila
Sherman Dorn
Michael Drout
Frog in a Well
Frogs and Ravens
Early Modern Notes
Evan Garcia
George Mason History bloggers
Ghost in the Machine
Rebecca Goetz
Invisible Adjunct (inactive)
Jason Kuznicki
Konrad Mitchell Lawson
Danny Loss
Liberty and Power
Danny Loss
Ether MacAllum Stewart
Pam Mack
Heather Mathews
James Meadway
Medieval Studies
H.D. Miller
Caleb McDaniel
Marc Mulholland
Received Ideas
Renaissance Weblog
Nathaniel Robinson
Jacob Remes (moribund?)
Christopher Sheil
Red Ted
Time Travelling Is Easy
Brian Ulrich
Shana Worthen
Computers/media/communication
Lauren Andreacchi (moribund)
Eric Behrens
Joseph Bosco
Danah Boyd
David Brake
Collin Brooke
Maximilian Dornseif (moribund)
Jeff Erickson
Ed Felten
Lance Fortnow
Louise Ferguson
Anne Galloway
Jason Gallo
Josh Greenberg
Alex Halavais
Sariel Har-Peled
Tracy Kennedy
Tim Lambert
Liz Lawley
Michael O'Foghlu
Jose Luis Orihuela (moribund)
Alex Pang
Sebastian Paquet
Fernando Pereira
Pink Bunny of Battle
Ranting Professors
Jay Rosen
Ken Rufo
Douglas Rushkoff
Vika Safrin
Rob Schaap (Blogorrhoea)
Frank Schaap
Robert A. Stewart
Suresh Venkatasubramanian
Ray Trygstad
Jill Walker
Phil Windley
Siva Vaidahyanathan
Anthropology
Kerim Friedman
Alex Golub
Martijn de Koning
Nicholas Packwood
Geography
Stentor Danielson
Benjamin Heumann
Scott Whitlock
Education
Edward Bilodeau
Jenny D.
Richard Kahn
Progressive Teachers
Kelvin Thompson (defunct?)
Mark Byron
Business administration
Michael Watkins (moribund)
Literature, language, culture
Mike Arnzen
Brandon Barr
Michael Berube
The Blogora
Colin Brayton
John Bruce
Miriam Burstein
Chris Cagle
Jean Chu
Hans Coppens
Tyler Curtain
Cultural Revolution
Terry Dean
Joseph Duemer
Flaschenpost
Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Jonathan Goodwin
Rachael Groner
Alison Hale
Household Opera
Dennis Jerz
Jason Jones
Miriam Jones
Matthew Kirschenbaum
Steven Krause
Lilliputian Lilith
Catherine Liu
John Lovas
Gerald Lucas
Making Contact
Barry Mauer
Erin O'Connor
Print Culture
Clancy Ratcliff
Matthias Rip
A.G. Rud
Amardeep Singh
Steve Shaviro
Thanks ... Zombie
Vera Tobin
Chuck Tryon
University Diaries
Classics
Michael Hendry
David Meadows
Religion
AKM Adam
Ryan Overbey
Telford Work (moribund)
Library Science
Norma Bruce
Music
Kyle Gann
ionarts
Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Greg Sandow
Scott Spiegelberg
Biology/Medicine
Pradeep Atluri
Bloviator
Anthony Cox
Susan Ferrari (moribund)
Amy Greenwood
La Di Da
John M. Lynch
Charles Murtaugh (moribund)
Paul Z. Myers
Respectful of Otters
Josh Rosenau
Universal Acid
Amity Wilczek (moribund)
Theodore Wong (moribund)
Physics/Applied Physics
Trish Amuntrud
Sean Carroll
Jacques Distler
Stephen Hsu
Irascible Professor
Andrew Jaffe
Michael Nielsen
Chad Orzel
String Coffee Table
Math/Statistics
Dead Parrots
Andrew Gelman
Christopher Genovese
Moment, Linger on
Jason Rosenhouse
Vlorbik
Peter Woit
Complex Systems
Petter Holme
Luis Rocha
Cosma Shalizi
Bill Tozier
Chemistry
"Keneth Miles"
Engineering
Zack Amjal
Chris Hall
University Administration
Frank Admissions (moribund?)
Architecture/Urban development
City Comforts (urban planning)
Unfolio
Panchromatica
Earth Sciences
Our Take
Who Knows?
Bitch Ph.D.
Just Tenured
Playing School
Professor Goose
This Academic Life
Other sources of information
Arts and Letters Daily
Boston Review
Imprints
Political Theory Daily Review
Science and Technology Daily Review