Winning public support for transport reforms

Abstract

The reformer’s dilemma has rarely been more eloquently or succinctly put than in Machiavelli’s much-cited observation in The Prince. Written half a millennium ago, it shows this problem is neither new nor confined to democracies. That said, more recent experience suggests a corollary to Machiavelli’s axiom, which could be expressed in similar terms: there is often nothing easier for a government than to make bad policies, for it can count on strong support from those who profit and little opposition from those who lose.