China has had a phenomenon called the "Dynastic Cycle" that I think
applies generally, although not in precise detail. You have a new
dynasty come to power, full of energy and determination to change things
and make things better. The bureaucracy is all executed -- all the
lawyers and scribes and paper pushers and so on -- and things are
trimmed down so they actually function, and the goal is efficiency, not
fairness or equality or some other ideological notion.
Over time bad things happen, and each time a bad thing happens a new law
is passed and more lawyers and inspectors are employed to enforce the
new law, all to be sure the bad thing doesn't happen again. Also of
course natural empire building goes on (bureaucrats are measured by the
number of people who report to them, so they tend to look for
opportunities to enlarge that number).
So decline sets in until eventually it becomes where bribes are the only
way to get anything done, there being so many rules and so many
officials living off those rules, and the whole system needs a
revolution to clean it all out again.
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