The proper order form of government offers one of the most effective forms of government. Under the proper order, the human interests, moral or material, reign supreme as compared to the other forms of government where the leaders protect their interests alone. Leadership protects and respects the people that gave them the power. Proper government is characterized by virtuous leadership in that leaders balance their interests and those of the people both in the short term and long run. Leadership if found at all levels of society and still offers virtuous leadership. Leadership is carried out at all levels of the government and there is co-participation and coordination in a number of issues and decisions. The institutions under proper order function properly to ensure that the people of the society get the necessary services. Proper order ensures that there is benefit sharing in the society and high standards of morality are maintained due to the closely-knit society (Yao, 5). Proper order is also characterized by cosmic resonance whereby institutions are aligned with the logic of nature and there is also a religious significance. Proper order, on paper, is one of the best systems ever. However, the system is fragile given the challenges and the various calamities that may befall the community that practices proper order. Issues like corruption, economic downfalls, and conflicts among the members and natural disasters among many others can pose immense challenges to the society making it highly fragile (Yao, 12). In as much as proper order is necessary and an appropriate form of governance, it is quite fragile. This paper would attempt to discuss why proper order form of governance is fragile.
Proper order tries as much to satisfy the human needs. It ensures that all institutions at all levels of society work towards satisfying the human needs in terms of the basic needs. Food, for example, is the most common basic need and hence the system tries to provide food for all member of the society. However, a fate probability like a natural disaster may prove a headache for the system since it would deplete its food reserves and destroy the institutions that provide basic goods and services. A natural disaster is defined as a catastrophic event with atmospheric, geological and hydrological origins. Natural disaster includes earth quakes, volcanoes, landslides drought and famine among many others. Long periods of drought and famine may have a negative impact on society as it would mean a scarcity of food and water. Scarcity of these basic commodities may mean that the people will starve and might even die of hunger. Proper order is built on well-established and coordinated institutions that may suffer a great deal in the case of a natural disaster. Disaster may destroy the premises that house different institutions or lead to destruction of people’s property.
Economic downfalls are also other types of fate probabilities that may cripple the proper order. Due to the prevailing conditions in any given country, there comes a time the level of inflation hit an all-time high. As a result, the prices of basic commodities usually go up to a point that the common people may not be able to afford them. With the prices of basic goods and services rising, the people of that society become increasingly dejected and disoriented with their government of the day, which may ultimately lead to demonstrations and frustrations leveled against the same government. With a frustrated society, it becomes impossible to provide services to the people. Proper order is built on the principle of popular management. This means that a positive balance should be maintained between the costs and benefits. At any given time, the costs should not be higher than the benefits. Nevertheless, inflation and other economic forces force the costs of many products and services (Wong, 12). At this period of time, the cost of everything shoots up. With such an eventuality, the proper order will greatly be challenged.
In any given society, conflicts are bound to happen. Conflicts may arise as a result of different ideologies or misunderstanding on how to share certain resources. In the case of extreme resource scarcity, a conflict is bound to happen. Scarcity would mean that only a few people will have access to the said resources while the majority of the people will have to do without it. Water scarcity, for example, which occurs as a result of prolonged periods of drought, may cause conflicts between the wealthy and the poor because the wealthy are the most likely to gain access to such a resource because of their financial muscle. Proper order aims at ensuring that all the human needs are taken care of but not that of the few. With resource scarcity, it would become increasingly difficult to attend to the needs of all people. Even the leaders, who may seem impartial, will have to take measures to ensure that they do not go without the said basic resource. As time passes, the renewable resources continue to be depleted leading to scarcity. The scarcity of renewable resources has been found to be a major contributor to political conflicts. Most countries, especially the less developed ones, are prone to political conflicts that have been instigated by extreme resource scarcity. Such conflicts usually make the country ungovernable as uprisings and civil rights movements would rise up from every corner of the earth. A normal resource scarcity may not lead to conflicts because the situation could be managed or maintained. One of the three levels of proper order as governance is to ensure the elite regulation of the use of certain resources, but on the cases of extreme scarcity, the government would find it hard to regulate and ensure the fair and equal distribution (Yao, 17).
Corruption and the embezzlement of funds is another vice that makes proper order fragile. In every society, there are a few individuals that must engage in corruption. Proper order is found on the principles on the values of virtuous leadership and accountability, but the few who engage in corrupt activities make it hard for governments to deliver their mandates. Corruption may either be political, economic or cultural. Political corruption is one the most common forms of corruption. People in positions of power or positions that can influence decision-making or key processes usually misuse their power to gain favors, skip certain process or win over people through propaganda. People are always susceptible to the dirty antics of the corrupt leader because of the positions they hold. At this stage, the corrupt leaders serve their interests rather than serve the interests of the people. All moves that corrupt leaders make is usually for their own benefit, a case of total disrespect for the people. Leaders and wealthy men in societies have the buying power to engage in corruption and find their way out after being exposed. Proper order would not function in a place that corruption is prevalent.
Economic corruption is another form of corruption whereby individuals engage in the abuse of wealth and fail to be socially responsible for their wealth. Such wealthy individuals use their immense wealth to gain access to scarce resources, avoid bureaucratic processes and get access to archived information among other dirty vices. Economic corruption is rampant in a number of societies as a result of the huge gap between the poor and the rich. These corrupt individuals have the financial might to do whatever they wish to do. People in leadership positions are usually the culprits of such vices because of the wealth they have amassed and the influence they have on the society. Economic power gives individuals the ability to coerce others into doing things that are not right. Coercion should be minimized for proper order to function effectively. With the rampant economic corruption, it is difficult to initiate the proper order system given that it goes against nearly all the principles of proper order such as moral respect, respecting human interests and virtuous leadership.
Cultural corruption is another issue that exposes the fragility of the proper order system of governance. Proper governance demands the use of moral virtues in both leadership and in normal day to day activities. It also demands people to respect the feelings of others and strive not to offend people. At times, people excessively use their position to oppress others or intimidate others. This often provokes the other leading to a conflict that can ultimately transform into a fight. There are also some cases where individuals decide to betray their communities or other individuals because of their different opinions or ideas. Betrayal can be in the form of forming an alliance with an enemy or selling out community secrets among others. Proper order stipulates that individuals, both leaders and common men, to possess high standards of morality and at the same time be virtuous (Wong, 15). It also allows individuals to engage in self-cultivation and flourish in terms of materials and morality. It should be noted that not all individuals would abide by the set standards and regulations; there would always be a black sheep. The corrupt culture clearly indicates the fragile nature of the proper order governance system.
On the other hand, a proper order in action would see the investments in infrastructure and the ever normal granaries to cushion themselves from the devastating effects of drought or famine (Wong, 7). Due to the unpredictability of the natural disasters, it would be a wise move to take precautionary measure before hand to ensure that there would be a reduced impact to the buildings and people in the event of a natural disaster like drought. However, others would argue that famine happens only once or twice in centuries and hence there will be no big difference in the dynamics of proper order. The prevalence of drought and famine in the pre-industrial societies was low and this goes on to show that proper order could still work effectively despite such challenges. As the world advances, we are now seeing new policies to combat with natural calamities such as the creation of famine insurance. These policies are aimed at minimizing the losses and combating these disasters when they occur.
For a proper order to be achieved, a number of things have to be set. First there needs to be a methodology and management system that would be used. The methodology should be precise and elaborated to all the stakeholders to ensure that it serves its rightful purpose. The government of the day should create a number of correct institutions that would aid in the provision of basic goods and services to the masses. Coercion should be minimized and merit be maximized in the various governmental institutions. Vices such as corruption should be eliminated and transparency encouraged. The government should be run by examination to know specifically what was done rightfully and what went wrong. Co- participation between the various institutions, both at the local and national level, will bring out effectiveness in proper order. Lastly, the system should aim at creating a legacy and embrace creating conditions rather than incomes.
Apart from the obvious fragilities that proper order has, it is a system that can function very well certain places. A society that emphasizes on the ideology of self-cultivation would definitely need proper order (Will & Wong, 10). This is because individuals would need proper functioning systems to ensure that they flourish. The system would also work best in a society that values the importance of the family unit. Since family is the basic unit of a society, a proper order would allow the protection of the rights of the families and also protection of their rights. A proper order would enable the meeting of the needs of the families and also empower them morally. A society that embraces a central government also needs a proper order because it would offer ways by which to institutionalize the local forms of government and work with them to ensure the meeting of the needs of the people and protection their rights. Co-participation between the central government and the local governments would come up with ingenious ways of solving chronic societal problems such as corruption and also ways of combating natural disasters (Yao, 20).
Works Cited
Will, P.-E., Wong, R. B., & Lee, J. Z. (1991). Nourish the people: The state civilian granary system in China, 1650-1850. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan.
Wong, R. B. (1997). China transformed: Historical change and the limits of European experience. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Yao, X. (2002). An introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
