Genesis of the book – The Mess We're In

I wrote the book I wanted to read.

A book which lays out, as objectively as possible, all the relevant information, considerations and options regarding the refugee crisis to allow the reader to form their own, educated view. A book following the well-worn business path used to allow managers to make difficult decisions, where there is no obvious right answer, rather a series of trade-offs that need to be communicated clearly so that the pros and cons of each option is understood.

There are two related aspects to the genesis of The Mess We’re In – Managing the Refugee Crisis.

The first is my decision to take a sabbatical from the corporate world to write a book. This is based on a desire to create something of meaning, as opposed to simply being a cog in large commercial enterprise.

The second is the decision to write on the refugee crisis. This decision culminated during the middle of 2015 when Germany opened its borders to all Syrian refugees. However there were a series of tributary thoughts I had been considering for many years which contributed to this culmination. Six important thoughts were:

The western world in general, including Australia specifically, is lucky. We have vast land, freedoms, and wealth. Not all countries or people enjoy such benefits. This wealth has indeed come at some expense to other cultures (e.g. through native dispossession), but it has also come through the benefits of wonderful institutions developed over the course of history. With the development of the western world has come our modern notion of human rights; that all lives matter and societies must do all they can to help others. Not just those living now but also those to come. To whom much is given, much is expected.

Western policies result in pain, suffering, and human rights abuses. Australia’s policies have led to many people (including children) being held in detention centres, unable to work or enjoy many of the freedoms that are enjoyed by its citizens. Australia has partnered with the USA, UK and other western powers in the Middle East, sometimes through action, other times through inaction. Regardless of what path is taken, the result always appears to be conflict, loss of life and livelihood. Creating the scenario that drives people to seek refuge in foreign lands. The West may be able to do better.

The commonly perceived failings of capitalism and western culture are necessarily straight cut. During my MBA, on exchange at the University of Chicago, I heard the defence for international out-sourcing and the resultant sweat shops in third world countries. Previously presented to me as mechanisms of exploitation, factories in the third world supporting multi-national corporations, were now presented as the stepping stones for these countries to build wealth and rise up from poverty. The jobs held by locals in these factories were presented as options for these people to utilise that were previously not provided before. The tributary of thought that started to flow for me was that the narrative is not always as simple as it may be presented.

The world’s exploding population has a large potential impact. A 2009 BBC documentary hosted by Sir David Attenborough – How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? – brought to my attention for the first time the rapidly rising global population. It highlighted that the poorest countries are growing the fastest, but that regardless of where the population is growing, the whole world will be impacted. The tributary of thought for me was that demographics matter. There is no major problem facing our planet that would not be easier to solve if there were fewer people; and no problem that does not become harder – and ultimately impossible to solve – with ever more. Yet there seems to be a taboo on bringing the subject into the open.

Culture matters greatly. This came to me through the writings and speeches of Ayan Hirsi Ali who recounted her youth in Islamic theocratic states. Her book – Infidel – introduced the thought to me that not all cultures are necessarily equal in respect to the freedoms they allow for minorities. For all its failings, western culture appears to provide a better life for women and minority groups like homosexuals than the Islamic theocracies described in Infidel.

That open borders are incompatible with the Welfare State. As per the oft cited teaching of Milton Friedman a state with open borders and welfare for all as the supply of immigrants will become infinite. You can have open borders, or a welfare state, but you can’t have both.

When Germany opened her borders in 2015 in response to the tragic human suffering of the Syrian civil war, hundreds of thousands of people began to travel to Europe. This prompted a support and critique across social media, and a moral dilemma within me.

Simultaneously I felt the sense of responsibility to help those less fortunate than us and an underlying notion that opening the borders was not a viable approach. The overwhelming scale of the problem would not be resolved by simply letting people in, and there was much to risk in doing so.

This moral dilemma increased through reading comments raised from friends on social media. Many times I wanted to make counterpoints but stopped as I realised I didn’t really know what I was talking about. My opinions were based primarily on instinct and not on facts. I started to read up on the situation, only to become frustrated as all articles and positions felt like persuasion pieces rather than fact-based summaries. Journalists, politicians and advocates were influencing the audience rather than informing them. The result being a completely different set of statistics and points based on who was providing them. Where was the structured, complete, fact-based information repository?

Thus, I decided to write the book I wanted to read.

The Mess We’re In – Managing the Refugee Crisis is the result eighteen months effort to create that book. It is a resource for anyone interested in being an informed part of the debate.