A founding figure of Western social science, Max Weber, distinguished several types of political action, two of which are particularly interesting:
Instrumental rational action. Means are judged by whether they bring us closer to the goal. This is the famous “ends justify the means”.
Value-rational action focuses entirely on adherence to certain principles (e.g., “you don’t negotiate with terrorists” or “the state does not interfere in economic affairs”), and the consequences do not matter. We will not negotiate with terrorists even if it means 100 million deaths. One of the founders of neoliberal economics, F.A. Hayek even argued that to ignore consequences is a manifestation of an archaic tribal mentality.
The political events of recent months are a prime example of this Weberian dichotomy. We have Trump and his people going after a clear goal – to rebuild a strong independent America that is also an industrial power and where the lower classes can live well. They will do anything to achieve that goal.
Europe’s political elite are demonstrating an example of value-rational action. They even use the Weberian term “values” (although Weber’s probably none of them have read Weber). That is, they mechanically apply certain rules (e.g., we will never stop military action against Russia) without without caring about the consequences. They don’t even care about the consequences of in terms of whether it reduces or increases the risk of us falling into the Russian sphere of influence.
Note that value-rational action is actually an extreme case of the ritualism I wrote about here a few days ago. People do something and don’t expect it to produce a result. Actually, more than that. They don’t care if it ends in disaster.
