Another rule of government I've long wished to articulate, I cannot summarise any better than "Your org chart arrows point the wrong way". Here it is applied to the Ming empire, but it also works for modern Whitehall 
Extreme centralisers act like the Centre is the source of both invention and agency. Nonsense: the best ideas usually bubble up from lower down the hierarchy. The higher-ups' job is to bargain the inevitable political trade-offs that emerge
In fact I'm seeing more and more parallels between Ming China and modern government (thread)
1. For Eunuch, read Special Adviser
1. For Eunuch, read Special Adviser
2. For Silver reserves read "government borrowing capacity". Populist right wing governments undone by their refusal to recognise the need to tax the middle class...
3. Civil service exams
4. But it goes awry if you have unaccountable power in the middle....
