A modern attempt at fleshing out a philosophical underpinnings for a social contract.
This is a good faith effort to split the ideas of what it means to live in a society, and what ought it mean, from modern politics. Shafik is clearly trying to make her case accessible whatever your political stripes, but this book makes it apparent that her understanding of political views other than her own is still nascent.
In essence, this book is little more than the idea that societies should organize under a democratic government, and it is the government’s job to provide for its citizens. I think this presents a couple of problems – first, given that the entire premise of Shafik’s proposed social contract is built on a foundation of state-action, she spends little time examining whether this is in fact best. Since the purpose of the book is, I think, to convince the reader of her take on the social contract, I think it would have been prudent to spend more time on the foundation. As not only a self-professed leftie and government bureaucrat, even I read the book with continual side eye regarding what government is best positioned to do, and what any society owes its people.
The other piece I struggled with is just how high level the analysis is. In an attempt to distill universal principles, I think the book has resulted in being a mile wide and an inch deep. Again, perhaps because my career has spanned every aspect of service delivery (in both the private and public sector), my mind immediately turns to implementation, and I struggled to see a clear, coherent path to implementation for much of what Shafik proposes, especially given that voters are increasingly voting for a compression of state involvement rather than an expansion.
To be clear, I think what Shafik is attempting here is essential work, and perfection should not be the enemy of the good. I think there is tremendous value to laying out ideas, especially those which are built on a long career of experience doing the work to inform the theory. The book includes some interesting observations and perspectives that a reader interested in economic development.