Page 213 - The Drucker Lectures

194 [ The Drucker Lectures

power, though unspeakably, during World War I. And it held
on through defeat in World War II. The same was true of the
military bureaucracy in Germany. And so, perhaps, we under-
rate the staying power.
The reason is not that these groups are so powerful, but that
there is no alternative. In the United States, we assume that there
need not be a leading group. Let me say that this is one of the
reasons why I came here. I happen to approve of it. I’m all for
it. But that’s unique. Nobody else has that. In every other devel-
oped country there is a leading group, which enjoys universal ac-
ceptance as a leading group. And there usually is no alternative.
I don’t see an alternative in Japan [despite internal pressures
to deregulate and cut the bureaucracy, so as to raise productiv-
ity and invigorate the economy]. And if you look at history, it
is very dangerous in countries that have a tradition of a leading
class not to have one. One of the main reasons for the collapse of
Weimar [the German republic that was established in 1919 and
gave way to Hitler’s Third Reich in 1933] was that there was no
successor to the military elite, and the public accepted neither
the businessmen nor the professionals. There was no leadership
that was accepted and respected.
And so don’t be too sure that getting rid of the bureaucracy is in
the interest of Japan or of the world. For the Japanese bureaucracy
to lose its power position—I don’t see a successor, do you? I can as-
sure you that big business in Japan does not have that support. Yes,
it is respectable, which it was not before World War II. But it is not
accepted as the leadership. Academia is not accepted as the leader-
ship—and deservedly so, by the way. The military sure isn’t. There
is no established religion. Who is there? And so I am by no means
eager to see the bureaucracy lose its leadership position—though
it’s doing its very best to kill itself. There’s no doubt about it.
And now, in the few minutes I have left, let me also say that
deregulation is not in Japan’s interest—or in ours. I should add