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ifwinterco • today at 11:54 AM • 8 replies • view on HN

It simply can't work, somebody ultimately has to be in charge of a 15 person startup, it is literally impossible to run a country via committee


Replies

InsideOutSanta • today at 12:39 PM

The exact opposite is true. The only consistently working, stable democracies do not have a single leader of the executive branch, e.g. Switzerland.

The CIA sponsored extensive studies on this and came to the conclusion that democracies with a strong presidential role are associated with a greater risk of failure. It's not really surprising, and it can be seen in the US right now.

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HarHarVeryFunny • today at 1:02 PM

The ancient Roman republic (i.e. pre-Caesar) did just fine run by the senate without any emperor (they were vehemently opposed to the idea of putting so much power in the hands of one individual).

One of the ways they made this work was by assigning temporary powers to elected/appointed individuals appropriate and sufficient to get their job done, whether that was provincial governor, tribunus plebis, consul or whatever. A notable title was that of "dictator" (where the modern word derives from) which gave sweeping temporary powers to a general sufficient to execute a war.

Julius Caesar famously abused this system, effectively becoming the first emperor (despite no such position existing) by assuming the title of "dictator perpetuo" (perpetual dictator), although that did not end well for him. His successor, Augustus (whose adopted name later became the name of the office of emperor) initiated a more acceptable version of this by simultaneously holding multiple "elected" positions thereby having the power of them all.

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DrProtic • today at 12:02 PM

And they won't, system in Serbia is still the same - they will form ministries and prime minister leading them.

They will choose who will that be by a committee, but after that they have to function as usual.

vanderZwan • today at 1:46 PM

Nice example of Poe's Law. I genuinely can't tell if this is a sincere comment written by someone who spent too much time in the start-up bubble, or a satirical comment on that type of person said by someone who very much aware that start-ups are just one of many ways humans can organize themselves and who knows that parliamentary politics is nothing like that for very good reasons.

But I do find it hilarious that apparently everyone assumes it to be the former, and that is quite telling about how most of this site's visitors think the other visitors of this site look at the world.

varun_ch • today at 12:38 PM

Switzerland effectively runs via committee

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AdamN • today at 12:12 PM

The constitution will necessitate a certain structure so it's not like "it can't work". It is working and then at some point soon the structure will be reified and some will be given more power and different portfolios than others.

stackbutterflow • today at 12:48 PM

A country is not a business. The goals are different. The levers and constraints are different.

corroclaro • today at 12:53 PM

I mean ... most countries are run by some sort of committee hierarchy / supervisor chain. Having consulted at many different levels of govt. over here in Europe, I can tell you there are way more committee decisions than Executive directives.

In many cases, the executives / politicians / directors just rubber stamp what a working group / committee has decided.

Also, see the Tomato guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqUBdX1d3ok