Rebuilding the Civic Industrial Base
"State Capacity" doesn't come from the State
No one trusts government to solve hard problems. Housing, homelessness, climate - it doesn’t matter. And the fact that it doesn’t matter points to a fundamental problem: a general decay of state capacity1. Much of the discussion on state capacity targets specific policy interventions like CEQA reform, and while that’s important, I don’t think we can whack-a-mole our way to good government. We need a general solution for a general problem.
Civilization solves hard problems with ecosystems. You’re reading this on a device that beams thoughts through time and space. That was a hard problem, and the solution is the product of an ecosystem. It was designed by researchers and engineers who were trained in universities. It was tested in labs full of equipment from other vendors. It was manufactured in factories by robots and technicians trained at trade schools. Government works the same way.
The Civic Industrial Base
State capacity doesn’t come from the state because governing is actually the output of an entire ecosystem; a civic industrial base. I propose it looks something like this:
Good government is not created by a vote; it emerges from a rich ecosystem of citizens socializing, organizing into civic groups, and serving in governing institutions. It is the base layers of the civic industrial base that provide the infrastructure to source and elevate politicians and policies.
So if state capacity is decaying everywhere we look, we should trace it to its source at the foundation of the civic ecosystem - local government, political/party organizations, and social groups. It’s not complicated and I’m not the first to say it: American civic culture accidentally forgot what made it excellent. Without the regular contribution of good and smart people, the civic industrial base weakens from the bottom and state capacity eventually decays at the top.
How the Civic Industrial Base Governs San Francisco
But this is an optimistic story. Even though the problems are at the foundation, they’re also more accessible and easier to fix. To get a sense for how we might intervene, consider one example of how governing actually happens.
San Franciscans care a lot about policing, and in 2024, the city banned police officers from conducting pretext stops2. But it wasn’t the Mayor or Board of Supervisors who did this, it was the Police Commission - an appointed body of seven citizens. Most San Franciscans have never heard of the Police Commission, yet in consultation with advocacy groups (political/policy) and neighborhood groups (social), they changed police officer conduct policy. It worked something like this:
Policymaking often works that way - as a substantial collaboration between government and the broader ecosystem. And the fact that this entire process played out below the level of elected officials shows just how much of governing can happen outside the flashy parts of government we tend to focus on.
This ecosystem is always at work. Governing is a process that happens continuously - before and after election day, and across all aspects of the civic industrial base. With just a bit of effort, you can reach out and touch it. You could just as easily imagine a different set of commissioners talking to a different set of advocacy groups and coming to a different conclusion. These are mechanisms of change.
Thinking in Ecosystems
The ecosystem view is useful because it makes it easier to get started. It shows that governing is much more than government, so there is a world of opportunity between “I’m mad that government sucks” and “hopefully voting will fix it”. It also reframes citizenship from a rare, vote-based act, to something more like a ritual; a regular practice. Most importantly, it’s a practice that is available to you right now.
State capacity comes from us
If what I’ve said is true, then healthier and more active social groups will inevitably surface more and better quality people for political/policy groups. More capable political/policy groups will draft better policies. Better candidates will filter up through these groups into office, and along with better bureaucrats, will more effectively implement and administer those policies. All of this depends on getting more good and smart people in at the foundation of the civic industrial base.
The ecosystem is already at work, it’s just that you’re not part of it. And if you’re good and smart and not part of the civic industrial base, then who is? We need you in there. Your city and your country need you in there. Start small and start now. Join your neighborhood association, attend an event at a community space, read a local think tank report, learn how government works.3 Rebuild the civic industrial base and state capacity will follow.
Traffic stops for low-level violations (expired registration, broken taillight) that are used to probe for more serious things like guns or drugs. Data suggests racial disparity in how pretext stops are applied. See DGO 9.07 for more info.
If you’re in SF, I can help you with all of this. If you’re in NYC, Daniel Golliher can
I can't remember if I've already shared this, but I really enjoyed Other Internet's research on neighborhood associations as "social technology". Great case studies.
https://otherinter.net/research/local-gov/
Nice post! I've been thinking about this a bunch recently, as I just wrote a Substack post about U.S. civics education—specifically its general neglect of (1) policy implementation/the bureaucracy, and (2) state/local government: https://civicinsighter.com/p/us-civics-education-has-two-blind-spots
Building on that, something I have been thinking about (and perhaps could be a subject for a future post) is how if we broad the discussion of government to include a much bigger focus on policy implementation and the bureaucracy, what kinds of citizen engagement should also be brought more fully into the picture. At the level of politics and lawmaking, the common ways to get engaged are things like running for office, voting, contacting your elected officials, forming interest groups that lobby elected officials, etc., so that's what if often spotlighted when teaching “how you can get involved in government.” But I think there also needs to be highlighting of things like attending community meetings, submitting tangible suggestions on the details of proposed actions (e.g. here's a specific spot you could put a park bench for X specific reason), getting to know civil servants, working for government yourself, etc.