Administration has more “czars” than the Romanov dynasty

posted at 12:06 pm on April 18, 2009 by Patrick Ishmael

Weird, but apparently true. (via Volokh)

The Romanovs ruled Russia from 1613 with the ascension of Michael I through the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in 1917. During that time, they produced 18 czars. While it is harder to exactly count the number of Obama administration czars, with yesterday’s appointment it seems fair to say it is now certainly in excess of 18.

In addition to Bersin, we have energy czar Carol Browner, urban czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr., infotech czar Vivek Kundra, faith-based czar Joshua DuBois, health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, new TARP czar Herb Allison, stimulus accountability czar Earl Devaney, non-proliferation czar Gary Samore, terrorism czar John Brennan, regulatory czar Cass Sunstein, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, and Guantanamo closure czar Daniel Fried. We also have a host of special envoys that fall into the czar category including AfPak special envoy Richard Holbrooke, Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell, special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia Dennis Ross, Sudan special envoy J. Scott Gration and climate special envoy Todd Stern. That’s 18. 

This is a very conservative estimate, however. I will allow you to pick whom you would like out of the remaining candidates. …

Hit up the link for the (extensive) list of the other “czarship” contenders. Ilya Somin notes that these positions are an outgrowth of a increasingly complex governing system that is decreasingly subject to intense scrutiny from the public rationally unaware of how its government operates.

I think that itself says something about the inefficiency inherent in our modern Federal government, although whether the number of czars is a relevant metric for gauging this remains to be seen. I’d suspect it wouldn’t be too far off.

In all seriousness, has there been any job performed by one of these czars where there has been some semblence of agreement that the “czarship” was necessary and effective? I’m reminded of how “effective” those drug czars have been, but given the pantheon of czars before us and behind us, maybe I missed one. Please inform me in the comments.

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