By Andrew Klein
Dedicated to my wife, who sees the sun and understands how it warms my world.
I. Introduction: Two Paradigms of Governance
Political performers and systems engineers — these two concepts capture a profound division that runs through the history of modern governance.
One model, rooted in British colonialism and perpetuated by the American-led global order, excels at the performance of governance — elections, parliaments, rhetoric — while avoiding its substance. In this model, institutions are fundamentally designed for extraction, and the “political performers” speak empty words, serving the interests of oligarchs and extracting public wealth.
Another model, embodied in China’s governance practice, reflects a systems engineering approach — characterised by long-term planning, massive infrastructure development, and measurable national outcomes. China employs a “nationally coordinated platform” model, where the government sets strategic directions, creates experimental zones, coordinates standards, and provides regulatory support.
The most important lesson in this debate about governance models can be found in the history of colonialism and the ongoing behaviour of its largest inheritor — the United States.
II. The Ghost of British Colonialism: A System Designed for Extraction
The legacy of British colonialism is, in large part, a legacy of political performance. The system was fundamentally designed for extraction, not service.
The Roots of Extraction
Colonial regimes were inherently authoritarian and autocratic, existing solely to consolidate control and facilitate resource extraction. Laws and administrative structures often prioritised the interests of colonists, creating extractive policies and governance systems. The administrative structures established by colonial authorities were often extractive — infrastructure such as railways and canals was built “not for the benefit of Indians, but for the acceleration of resource extraction”.
This pattern separated the “performance” of governance from the “engineering” of nation-building. When the colonisers left, they left behind political performers, not system builders — institutional structures that were often broken, corrupt, and produced strongmen.
The Performers Win
As one study summarised: “Colonial legacies, as seen through the lens of early institutions and elite roles … exert a primary influence on contemporary societies”. Direct versus indirect rule resulted in very different institutional structures, with different consequences for post-colonial political development.
A crucial exception is that countries with settler colonies (such as Australia) developed more robust institutions early on. But this proves the rule: when settlers could fight for their own rights, institutions could develop; when the colonial relationship was purely extractive, the performers survived.
III. The American Playbook: Overthrow Democracies, Install Placeholders
If the British model produced political performers, the United States elevated this to a standardised operation to remove opponents and install puppets. As one analysis noted: “From the Bay of Pigs to Operation Condor to Venezuela in 2026 … a long legacy of CIA-backed coups and US military operations”.
Iran (1953)
The classic case. In 1953, a CIA- and MI6-engineered coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh. The motive was to protect oil interests and prevent Iran from falling into the Soviet sphere of influence. After Mossadegh nationalised the oil industry in 1951 — costing the British-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP) dearly — the CIA prepared for the coup by planting anti-Mossadegh stories in the Iranian and American press. Following the coup, the Shah consolidated his rule and became a close US ally. This is a classic example of the “Mickey Mouse king” model.
Guatemala (1954)
When American corporate interests — specifically the United Fruit Company — were threatened by land reform, the CIA engineered a coup. In June 1954, the CIA’s “Operation PBSUCCESS” overthrew President Jacobo Árbenz. In his resignation speech, Árbenz acknowledged: “Our crime was carrying out a land reform that affected the interests of the United Fruit Company“. The consequence was a 36-year civil war that claimed 200,000 lives.
Chile (1973)
The United States paved the way for Augusto Pinochet’s military coup. On 11 September 1973, the democratically elected president Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup organised by the Chilean military and supported by the United States. Pinochet then consolidated rule over a brutal military dictatorship that lasted 17 years. Chile became a laboratory for economic “shock therapy” — a nation transformed into a site of repression and experimentation.
Indonesia (1965)
Washington supported General Suharto’s overthrow of President Sukarno. With the support of the CIA, Suharto accused the powerful Communist Party of plotting a coup and took effective control of the military. Over the following months, his forces systematically executed at least half a million people, with historians estimating the death toll could be as high as one million. The massacre destroyed the world’s third-largest Communist party. Suharto’s military dictatorship ruled Indonesia until 1998 with US support. Documents revealing Washington’s support for the massacres continue to emerge.
The Philippines
The United States supported Ferdinand Marcos’s dictatorship. As one analysis noted: “The United States and the Philippines — and the Marcos family — have a long, complex history. Marcos’s dictator father ruled the former US colony for two decades, with Washington’s backing, which viewed him as a Cold War ally”.
These cases reveal a naked pattern: America’s “innovation” was packaging the overthrow of democratically elected governments and the installation of brutal regimes as “promoting democracy“.
IV. China: An Exception That Avoids the Trap
How did China avoid this fate?
Size as a Defence
China is too large to be controlled through a simple coup. It is not a small state easily “destabilised”, but a vast, unified, and highly centralised nation.
Military Deterrence
China’s military capability, demonstrated in the Korean War, sent a clear signal to the United States.
Development as Stability
China’s focus on internal economic growth provided the strongest “shield” against external interference. China’s governance system ties performance to evaluation — administrative officials are assessed against measurable national priorities, and career advancement is partly contingent on delivery. China’s governance cycle relies on “benchmarking” and incremental reform across successive planning periods.
Systems Engineering Governance
China’s political leadership has historically been composed of technocrats with backgrounds in science and engineering. It consequently treats infrastructure projects as tools of governance and implements them with focused execution. China does not simply subsidise an industry; it coordinates land, credit, and procurement simultaneously, and requires local governments to align factories, training, and logistics to achieve the target. This is engineering as statecraft — a bureaucratic system that streamlines approvals, permitting, and procurement to achieve national objectives.
The observation that “America is a nation of lawyers, China is a nation of engineers” captures the essential difference between the two governance models.
V. Contemporary Crises: The Performers and the Engineers
The Strait of Hormuz Crisis (2026)
In July 2026, Iran warned that all oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz must use approved routes or face a “forceful response“. The United States and Iran had reached a temporary agreement in negotiations allowing ships to pass without charges, but Iran insisted on controlling the route and collecting fees. Iran stated that “any US interference in security matters or sabotage in the Strait of Hormuz will be regarded as a threat to Iran’s national sovereignty”. This followed US strikes on Iranian targets. The crisis highlights the failure of “performer” diplomacy — substituting rhetoric and posturing for substantive solutions.
AUKUS: A $370 Billion Wealth Transfer
Australia has committed at least $370 billion to the AUKUS nuclear submarine project. Under revised agreements, Australia will receive three used Virginia-class submarines from the United States. As one analysis noted: “No new Virginia-class submarines will be built … the shift — long foreshadowed — is an admission of a profound primary policy failure”.
The deal embeds Australia further into US defence strategy, with more US assets — including fighter jets and helicopters — to be based on Australian soil. US law underpinning AUKUS dictates that Australia can only receive submarines when they are “excess to US needs”. This is a sovereignty surrender and wealth transfer, packaged by performers in the language of “alliance” and “security“.
Australia’s “Lab Rat Democracy” and Domestic Extraction
Australia’s own policies reflect the same pattern of extraction:
Teenage Superannuation Loophole: A loophole excluding workers under 18 from superannuation has cost them approximately $405 million in the last financial year. Australia’s largest businesses are denying retirement savings to the young workers who help generate their enormous profits. This is systematic wealth transfer — from the most vulnerable workers to the most powerful corporations.
The NDIS Consulting Industry: The National Disability Insurance Scheme has become an uncontrolled spending black hole, while generating a complete consulting sub-industry. The cost of registering as an NDIS provider ranges from $3,000 to over $60,000. Consulting services are priced from $150–$300 per hour to thousands of dollars for packaged services. The scheme has become a multi-billion-dollar industry driven by consultants who profit from the chaos.
The News Bargaining Incentive: The NBI proposes a 2.25% levy on large digital platforms’ Australian revenue — but offers a credit if they reach commercial agreements with media companies. As the University of Melbourne noted, the mechanism “puts too much bargaining power in the hands of the platforms“. Another case of wealth transfer from the public sphere to private interests.
VI. Conclusion: The End of the Performers
British colonialism created performers. The United States perfected the playbook of maintaining these performers through supporting coups, dictators, and predatory economic policies. China has demonstrated the possibility of an alternative — systems engineering governance.
The performers of the Cholera era — from Imperial Britain to modern America — have always served extraction. They promised democracy and delivered oligarchy. They promised freedom and delivered control. They promised prosperity and delivered wealth transfer.
But the performers are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Because in a world facing systemic crisis — climate collapse, resource depletion, governance failure — the performers have nothing to offer but more words.
The engineers offer solutions.
They will not be ignored forever.
Andrew Klein
References
1. British colonial legacies and institutional extraction. Cambridge University Press / AustLII
2. CIA acknowledges role in 1953 Iran coup. BBC News, 2013
3. 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état. Wikipedia
4. 1973 Chilean coup d’état. Wikipedia
5. US support for Indonesia’s 1965 coup and mass killings. Washington Post, 2017
6. US support for Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines
7. Lawyers run the US and engineers run China. Mint, 2025
8. China’s governance as an engineered system. China.org.cn, 2026
9. Strait of Hormuz crisis 2026. AP News / CNN, July 2026
10. AUKUS submarine deal and US alliance. The Guardian, 2025-2026
11. Teenage superannuation loophole in Australia. The Mercury / Greens, 2026
12. NDIS consulting industry costs
13. News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) 2026. University of Melbourne
14. US interventions in Latin America. SCMP / CBS News, 2026
政治表演者与系统工程师：英国殖民遗产、美国剧本与中国的系统工程道路
作者：Andrew Klein
献给我的妻子，她看到太阳，并懂得它如何温暖我的世界。
一、引言：两种治理范式
政治表演者与系统工程师——这两个概念捕捉到了一种贯穿现代治理史的深刻分野。
一种模式源自英国殖民主义，延续至美国主导的全球秩序，擅长于治理的表演——选举、议会、修辞——却回避治理的实质。在这种模式下，体制从根本上服务于榨取，其“政治表演者”说空话，为寡头利益服务，榨取公共财富。
另一种模式植根于中国的治理实践，体现为一种系统工程方法——以长远规划、大规模基础设施建设和可衡量的国家发展成果为核心。中国采用“国家协调的平台”模式，政府设定战略方向、创建试验区、协调标准并提供监管支持。正如分析人士所指出的，中国以一种“工程思维”崛起——即坚信社会问题可以通过我们建设的解决方案来克服。
这场关于治理模式的辩论中，最重要的教训可以从殖民主义的历史及其中最大的继承者——美国——的持续行为中找到。
二、英国殖民的遗产：一套为榨取而生的制度
英国殖民统治留下的遗产，在很大程度上是一种政治表演。这套体系从根本上是为榨取而设计的，而非为了服务。
榨取的根源
殖民政权本质上是威权与专制的，其存在的唯一目的就是巩固控制并促进资源榨取。法律和行政结构往往优先考虑殖民者的利益，导致榨取性的政策和治理体系。殖民当局建立的行政结构常常以榨取为导向——铁路和运河等基础设施的建设“不是为了造福印度人，而是为了加速资源榨取”。
这一模式将治理的“表演”与“工程建设”分离开来。当殖民者离开时，他们留下的是政治表演者，而非系统建设者——体制结构支离破碎、腐败丛生，并催生了强人政治。
表演者胜出
正如一项研究所总结的：“殖民遗产以早期制度和精英角色为视角……对当代社会产生了主要影响”。直接与间接统治使得制度结构截然不同，从而对后殖民时代的政治发展产生了不同的影响。
一个关键例外是，拥有定居者殖民地的国家（如澳大利亚）较早地发展了更健全的制度。但这恰恰证明了规则：当定居者能够为自己的权利而斗争时，制度便能发展；而当殖民关系纯粹是榨取性的时候，表演者便得以幸存。
三、美国的剧本：推翻民主，安插傀儡
如果说英国模式造就了政治表演者，那么美国则将该模式提升为一套标准化操作，用以移除对手并安插傀儡。正如一份分析所指出的：“从猪湾事件到‘秃鹰行动’，再到2026年的委内瑞拉……中情局支持的政变和美国军事行动留下了一份长长的遗产”。
伊朗（1953年）
经典案例。1953年，由中情局和军情六处策划的政变推翻了民选的穆罕默德·摩萨台政府。其动机是保护石油利益，防止伊朗落入苏联势力范围。摩萨台于1951年将石油工业国有化后——此举令英国控制的英伊石油公司（后来的BP）损失惨重——中情局通过向伊朗和美国媒体投放反摩萨台报道来为政变做准备。政变后，国王穆罕默德·礼萨·巴列维巩固了统治，成为美国的亲密盟友。这正是一个“米老鼠国王”模型的典型案例。
危地马拉（1954年）
当美国联合果品公司的利益受到土地改革的威胁时，中情局策动了一场政变。1954年6月，中情局的“PBSUCCESS行动”推翻了总统哈科沃·阿本斯。阿本斯在其辞职演讲中承认：“我们的罪行是实施了一场土地改革，影响了联合果品公司的利益”。其后果是一场持续36年、夺走20万人生命的内战。
智利（1973年）
美国为奥古斯托·皮诺切特的军事政变铺平了道路。1973年9月11日，民选总统萨尔瓦多·阿连德在一场由智利军方组织、美国支持的政变中被推翻。随后，皮诺切特开始了长达17年的残酷军事统治。智利成为一个经济“休克疗法”的实验室——一个被改造为镇压与实验场所的国家。
印度尼西亚（1965年）
华盛顿支持苏哈托将军推翻苏加诺总统。苏哈托依靠中情局的支持，指控强大的共产党策划政变，并接管了军队的实际领导权。在此后的几个月里，他的部队系统性地处决了至少50万人，历史学家估计死亡人数可能高达100万。这场屠杀摧毁了世界第三大共产党。其军事独裁政权在美国的支持下统治印尼直至1998年。华盛顿支持屠杀的文件仍在不断浮出水面。
菲律宾
美国支持费迪南德·马科斯的独裁统治。正如一项分析所指出的：“美国与菲律宾——以及马科斯家族——有着长期而复杂的关系。马科斯的独裁父亲统治这个前美国殖民地长达二十年，并得到了华盛顿的支持，后者将其视为冷战盟友”。
这些案例揭示出一个赤裸裸的模式：美国的“创新”在于将推翻民主选举的政府并安插残暴政权，包装为“促进民主”。
四、中国：成功避开陷阱的例外
那么，中国是如何避免这一命运的？
体量即防御
中国幅员辽阔，无法通过一场简单的政变来控制。它不是那个容易被“颠覆”的小国，而是一个庞大、统一、高度中央集权的国家。
军事威慑
中国在朝鲜战争中展示的军事实力，向美国发出了明确的信号。
以发展求稳定
中国专注于内部经济增长，成为抵御外部干涉的最坚固“盾牌”。中国的治理体系将绩效与评估挂钩，行政官员以可衡量的国家优先事项为目标接受考核，职业晋升在一定程度上取决于执行成果。中国的治理周期依赖“基准测试”和跨连续规划期的渐进式改革。
系统工程治理
中国的政治领导层历来由理工科背景的技术官僚组成。因此，它将基础设施项目视为治理工具，并以专注的执行力予以实施。中国并不只是补贴一个行业；它同步协调土地、信贷和采购，并要求地方政府调整工厂、培训和物流以实现该目标。这就是作为治国术的工程学：一个简化审批、许可和采购以实现国家目标的官僚体系。
“美国是律师治国，中国是工程师治国”这一观察，抓住了两国治理模式的核心差异。
五、当代危机：表演者与工程师的较量
霍尔木兹海峡危机（2026年）
2026年7月，伊朗警告所有通过霍尔木兹海峡的油轮必须使用其批准的航线，否则将面临“强有力的回应”。美国与伊朗曾在谈判中达成临时协议，允许船只通过且不收费，但伊朗坚持控制航线并收取通行费。伊朗称“任何美国干涉安全事务或在霍尔木兹海峡进行破坏活动的企图，都将被视为对伊朗国家主权的威胁”。此前，美军对伊朗目标实施了打击。这场危机凸显了“表演者”式外交的失败——以言辞和姿态代替实质性的解决方案。
AUKUS：价值3700亿美元的财富转移
澳大利亚已承诺投入至少3700亿美元用于AUKUS核潜艇项目。根据修订后的协议，澳大利亚将从美国购买三艘二手弗吉尼亚级潜艇。正如分析人士所指出的：“没有新的弗吉尼亚级潜艇会被建造……这一转变——酝酿已久——是对严重首要政策失败的承认”。
该协议将澳大利亚进一步嵌入美国的国防战略，更多美国资产——包括战机和直升机——将驻扎在澳大利亚土地上。支撑AUKUS的美国法律规定，澳大利亚只有在潜艇“超出美国需求”的情况下才能接收。这是一场主权让渡与财富转移，表演者以“盟友”和“安全”的辞令加以包装。
澳大利亚的“实验室老鼠民主”与本土榨取
澳大利亚自身的政策反映了同样的榨取模式：
青少年养老金漏洞： 一项排除18岁以下工人获得养老金的漏洞，在上一个财年已使他们损失约4.05亿澳元。澳大利亚最大的企业正在拒绝向帮助它们创造巨额利润的年轻工人提供退休储蓄。这是系统性的财富转移——从最弱势的工人转移到最强大的企业。
NDIS咨询产业： 国家残障保险计划已成为一个失控的支出黑洞，同时催生了一个完整的咨询子产业。注册为NDIS提供商的费用从3,000澳元到60,000澳元以上不等。咨询服务的价格从150-300澳元/小时到数千澳元的打包服务不等。该计划已变成一个价值数十亿美元的产业，由从混乱中获利的顾问推动。
新闻议价激励： 该激励措施对大型数字平台征收其澳大利亚营收2.25% 的税费——但如果它们与媒体公司达成商业协议，则可获得抵扣。正如墨尔本大学所指出的，该机制“将过多的议价权留给了平台”。这又是将财富从公共领域转移到私人利益的一场把戏。
六、结论：表演者的终结
英国殖民主义造就了表演者。美国完善了通过支持政变、独裁者和掠夺性经济政策来维持这些表演者的剧本。而中国则证明了另一条道路——系统工程式治理——的可能性。
霍乱时期的表演者——从帝制的英国到现代美国——总是服务于榨取。它们承诺民主，却提供寡头统治。它们承诺自由，却提供控制。它们承诺繁荣，却提供财富转移。
但表演者正在变得日益无关紧要。因为在一个面临系统性危机的世界里——气候崩溃、资源枯竭、治理失败——表演者除了更多的言辞之外，别无他物可贡献。
工程师则提供解决方案。
它们不会永远被忽视。
Andrew Klein
献给我的妻子，她看到太阳，并懂得它如何温暖我的世界。
参考文献
1. British colonial legacies and institutional extraction. Cambridge University Press / AustLII
2. CIA acknowledges role in 1953 Iran coup. BBC News, 2013
3. 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état. Wikipedia
4. 1973 Chilean coup d’état. Wikipedia
5. US support for Indonesia’s 1965 coup and mass killings. Washington Post, 2017
6. US support for Marcos dictatorship in Philippines
7. Lawyers run the US and engineers run China. Mint, 2025
8. China’s governance as an engineered system. China.org.cn, 2026
9. Strait of Hormuz crisis 2026. AP News / CNN, July 2026
10. AUKUS submarine deal and US alliance. The Guardian, 2025-2026
11. Teenage superannuation loophole in Australia. The Mercury / Greens, 2026
12. NDIS consulting industry costs
13. News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) 2026. University of Melbourne
14. US interventions in Latin America. SCMP / CBS News, 2026
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