Long-term concern needed
kdawson@web.apc.org
Wed, 1 May 91 23:03:00 PDT
I am a psychology professor working with a colleague at Mt. Allison University
in New Brunswick. We are interested in modelling/explaining/helping the
relationship between aboriginal rights and bureaucratic decision-making with
special reference to Land Claims. The basic idea we are working with (and this
idea seems to fit the whole gamut of interactions between natives and govern-
ments) is that government employees (bureaucrats, including politicians)
are mostly concerned with short-term priorities (such as the next paycheque,
maintaining their paper-work, getting a promotion, etc.) and trade-off long-
term priorities (such as environmental and intercultural well-being). In
other words, governmental people neglect or ignore long-term priorities
because they are in a bureaucratic system which favours short-term
practicalities of day-by-day jobs. We think the "solution", if there is one,
and we realize there is no easy solution, is for the bureaucrats (including
the politicians) to begin genuine acceptance of long-term priorities as
being more important than their short-term needs. This is because if long-
term priorities continue to be neglected, the environment in which short-
term practicalities (paycheques, paper-work, business lunches) are carried
out will no longer be compatible with human life. I'm sure many of you
fully understand the interwoven web of relations linking environmental
well-being and ancient native religions/philosophy/culture...
Any ideas (and/or nice examples) that fit (or even argue against) this
theory would be greatly appreciated.
Kim A. Dawson, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
Mount Allison University
Sackville, New Brunswick
Canada E0A 3C0
506-364-2458
id: kdawson (Internet: web!kdawson@igc.org)