The spectre of the KKK in global politics

Donald Trump’s America is proof that no country can ignore the danger of sliding into a ‘kakistocracy’ or rule by the worst, says this writer.

IN my youth, the KKK stood for just one thing – the Ku Klux Klan. You knew they were bad, meeting at night in secret places in weird white hooded gowns, cooking up foul racist plots around bonfires or under the flickering light of torches held aloft.

Today, I have become aware of a new KKK that makes me just as uncomfortable – “kleptocracy, kakistocracy and khakistocracy”.

Once upon a time we linked this KKK with poor countries, mainly concentrated in Africa. These occupy the bottom ranks of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index or Transparency International’s Corruption Index. But, today, they have come closer to home. Their encroachment has made it clear that competent, honest government rooted in robust democratic political systems can never be taken for granted.

For business, this KKK puts at risk clean, efficient global trade and investment. It jeopardises our global supply chains. It endangers our trust in the rule of law and the strong global growth that has so effectively lifted millions out of poverty over the past 70 years. The link between this KKK and poverty, underfunded health and education systems, poor infrastructure, low trust in government and even disregard for environmental protection is well established.

Kleptocracies have always been alive and well, and their threat is widely recognised. The practice of politicians using political power for personal enrichment has a long, depressing history – from Idi Amin in Uganda to Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria, from JeanClaude Duvalier in Haiti to Alberto Fujimori in Peru, from Suharto in Indonesia to Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, and most recently, allegedly, (Datuk Seri) Najib Razak in Malaysia.

Khakistocracies – or military dictatorships – have been similarly common. There have been about 90 in the past century or so, with more than a third in impoverished African countries. They are associated with ineptitude and corruption. In contrast, strong and transparently organised democracies and independent legal systems keep militaries safely in their barracks.

Kakistocracy, in which the government is run by the least suitable or competent citizens, is much less talked about. The word does not even exist in many dictionaries. In 1876, amid scandals linked to US president Ulysses S. Grant’s government, the poet James Russell Lowell asked: “Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people? Or is it a kakistocracy rather, for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools.”

The word erupted briefly into the public domain in 1981 during the Reagan presidency, but has re-emerged with a vengeance since Donald Trump became US president. Paul Krugman was fast off the mark in January 2017 when he described the new Trump administration as an “American kakistocracy”, and Norm Ornstein wrote on the theme at greater length in The Atlantic in October 2017: “Kakistocracy is back, and we are experiencing it first hand in America.”

Then, in April last year, former CIA director John Brennan used the term to attack Trump on Twitter: “Your kakistocracy is collapsing after its lamentable journey.”

Kakistocracy is essentially about incompetence. Of the three Ks, it is particularly troubling because it seems able to coexist with democracy, and has played a significant role in undermining trust in democratic politics. It has even enabled countries like China to build plausible arguments in defence of autocracies like their own.

Whatever the strong feelings we have about the superiority of democracy, without simple competence, its virtues over the autocratic alternatives are uncertain. For business, kakistocracy undermines the trust needed to trade and invest with confidence. It rewards nepotism and undermines the belief that innovation and open competition can lead to business growth, economic growth, and job and wealth creation.

Kakistocracies have commonly ruined strong countries and thriving empires over human history – the later stages of the Roman empire, the ruinous ineptitude of Nicholas II of Russia, whose wars brought the country to its knees, and the Qajar dynasty in Persia that bankrupted one of the world’s leading economies. From Hitler to Mao and Pol Pot, from Saddam Hussein to Slobodan Milosevic, it is hard to agree on whether their actions were the result of brute malevolence, sheer incompetence – kakistocracy – or its combination with the other two Ks. What is clear to all is the harm they caused.

Whether Trump has created a modern-day kakistocracy, only the history books will tell. There is still hope that the checks and balances of America’s constitution will protect it from the impulsive decision-making and stream-ofconsciousness communication of its president.

That Trump believes his desire to build a border wall between the US and Mexico justifies shutting down the government and putting hundreds of thousands of livelihoods at risk – and now declaring a national emergency – shows his bizarre priorities and disdain for maintaining competency in government. Two years into Trump’s presidency, nearly a quarter of the 1,200 or so executive spots that require Senate confirmation are still empty, including four Cabinetlevel posts and over 40 ambassadorships. Many are filled by friends and family.

Kakistocracy also seems alive and well in Theresa May’s Britain, as the country stumbles towards Brexit.

Khakistocracy and kleptocracy seem relatively easy to identify, and can be fenced off without endangering our democracies. But kakistocracy is more insidious, less easy to identify and easily embedded at the heart of our democracies. It is also just as harmful to the efficient and productive development of the competitive and innovative businesses upon which our prosperity depends.

We have taken government competence for granted, but cannot any more. The three Ks are a clear and present threat to all our livelihoods. – South China Morning Post