"Traditionally, critiques of bureaucracy take the perspective of the little man caught in the obtuse machinations of faceless corporations or an unyielding state. Kafka's Joseph K., for example, or Catch-22's Yossarian. Even The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy begins with protagonist Arthur Dent lying in front of a bulldozer to thwart an intransigent planning department. In recent years, we've seen the return of anti-bureaucratic mobilization,"
"2025 saw anti-bureaucratic mobilization across the political spectrum. On the right, we can point to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its disastrous early-year rampage through the US public sector. But there were also centrist and "progressive" iterations addressing a similar mood. Last March, the growing YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard) "movement" found its arguments codified in the best-selling book Abundance: How We Build a Better Future, written by liberal journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson."
Bureaucracy has changed dramatically over forty years so that anti-bureaucratic energy now often benefits developers and corporate actors rather than marginalized individuals. 2025 featured anti-bureaucratic mobilization across the political spectrum, from right-wing initiatives like Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to centrist and progressive YIMBY arguments popularized in a best-selling book. Those YIMBY arguments claim overregulation has slowed economic activity, repressed living standards, and empowered autocratic leaders. The left faces a need to understand how bureaucracy was reengineered and to pursue its own transformation of institutions to deepen democratic control.
Read at The Nation
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