Basics

With all our discussions about the details of administrative law, sometimes we forget that in the United States, at all levels of government, our executive system works pretty well.  Sometimes, I think, better than we deserve.  Almost all American civil servants are honest, have reasonable sound judgment, and obey the law as they understand it.  This is not to say they don't make mistakes, and the practice of administrative law arises from errors people in government make in implementing the law.  But, amazingly, the system by and large works most of the time, for most people.  Imaging what it would be like if any substantial number of civil servants and legislators were corrupt, stupid, or unconcerned about the law.  I commend to you Prof. Haider Ala Hamoudi's (Pittsburgh) discussion of Iraqi public administration on his Islamic Law In Our Times blog at "Governance" and "Ethnic and Sectarian Quotas in the New Iraq".  From the former:

The point is, however, nobody demonstrated over Allawi's right to govern, or Maliki's, or anyone else's. The continuing fear is civil war in Western press and commentary, but nobody seems particularly excited about the political impasse, which is an odd way to prelude a civil war.  If you can't get people onto the streets just to say your candidate should govern, it seems hard to believe they'll go fighting for you.  For this and many other more important reasons, it seems clear to me that they don't care because the moment of civil war has passed in Iraq.  ...

What they care about is not sitting in the damn heat which is higher than 120 F in the summer without any electricity. They care about clean water.  They care about being able to get a license to marry without sitting in some courthouse for six hours, and that's if they are willing to pay at least $250 in bribes.  Otherwise it's measured in days.  The problem in government legitimacy in Iraq is not about Allawi, Mutlaq or Maliki, it's not about Sunnis and Shi'is, it's about truly awful governance.  The government is absolutely terrible at just about everything it does. 

And from the latter:

... Or to take another context where class is MORE important than sect or ethnicity if you want something done in a government office, it's best if you know someone there who can help you.  More often than not, that's a relative, or a relative of a friend, or something.  So it could be someone in your social class--you are a Shi'i member of the high class Hunting Club, your Kurdish friend from college is too, his daughter is having a problem at a Ministry where you have a high position.  That Kurd is going to have a heck of a lot easier time getting her problem solved with your help than some Shi'i who walks in, chants a few things about Imam Ali and hopes that the staff help him out because he is a Shi'i just like the Minister.  And the Kurd wouldn't BE in the Hunting Club if she weren't from the right family.  Just like no Shi'i would be there from Sadr City, they'd never be allowed in.  The Sadrist who wants something done finds someone if he can in the neighborhood who works at the Minsitry, or maybe a local council member who might know somebody or something.  Better to be the Kurd in the Hunting Club in any event.

I submit that it is important for us to remember that our problems, however difficult and expensive, pale in comparison. EMM