The Labyrinth

Title

The Labyrinth

Description

"Written on the papers: “Order, Instruction, Decree, Explanation to Paragraph No. 141, Supplement to Instruction No. 638, Item 45 of Order No. 651…”

Typical for the Soviet command-and-control type of administration, policies that had direct bearing on people’s lives were carried out not through a legislative process but by decrees of top leadership, put in place or withdrawn by their will (Eaton, 2004). There was no place for logic or common sense in routine decision making. As Solnick (1998) indicates: “Procedures and documentation mattered far more than any sort of Weberian rationality in guiding the behavior of policy makers”.

Creator

None

Date

None

Source

Rutgers & Harvard

Relation

Rights

Source:
Holzer, M., Illiash, I., Gabrielian, V., & Kuznestsova, L. (2010). Red Tape from Red Square:Bureaucratic Commentary in Soviet Graphic Satirical Art. Poughkeepsie, NY: NetPublicaions

Solnick, S. L. (1998). Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet institutions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Publisher

Rutgers & Harvard

Contributor

Rutgers & Harvard

Format

Medium: Poster

Language

Russian

Type

Artwork

Identifier

Art, Satire, Cartoons, Soviet Union, Bad Management, Authoritarian

Coverage

Russia

Files

labyrinth.jpg

Reference

None, The Labyrinth, Rutgers & Harvard, None

Cite As

None, “The Labyrinth,” Virtual Museum of Public Service, accessed March 28, 2024, https://vmps.omeka.net/items/show/478.