Stand and Deliver - Ed Straw

If you are ever angered by the standard of government we endure, you are not alone. A key issue for democratic politics, in the UK and many other nations, is what to do about voter disengagement. The faith that electorates have in governments - of whatever party - to make their lives better is dramatically decreasing, while the incompetence of our political structure and of those elected to office becomes ever more apparent. This problem is now so acute that many believe we are in danger of losing an entire generation from the political process. What is stopping government working as we would like? Many elements are blamed, and many sources propose a variety of solutions, such as better party politics, better democracy, better accountability. Ed Straw argues firstly that government doesn't have to be this bad, and secondly that nothing will improve until we understand that the present system as a whole is itself what stands inthe way of successful government. Taking as its premise the fact that governments are 'organisations' - bigger, more complex and more important than most, but organisations nonetheless - the author analyses the root causes of repeated, systemic failure, and proposes a radical yet practical solution: the Treaty for Government. Both timely and groundbreaking, this book sets out the design for an agreement between a society and those whose job it is to improve it, showing us how we can break the cycle and achieve the results we deserve but which the status quo can never deliver.