← Back to Concept Index
bureaucratic-dysfunction
The misrouting of critical communications and internal confusion within the Bureau of Cultural Relations, complicating crisis management.
1 chapter across 1 book
The Long Result (1965)John Brunner
Pages 1–22
Roald Vincent is thrust into a high-pressure role managing delicate interstellar relations following a suspected sabotage of a rocket carrying an alien Regulan, amidst rising human supremacist xenophobia. Tasked with handling the arrival of a Tau Cetian delegation, he confronts bureaucratic confusion, political rivalry with the Starhomers, and the challenge of rapidly assimilating alien cultural knowledge. Meanwhile, extremist propaganda advocating human supremacy surfaces, complicating the tense atmosphere surrounding alien contact and diplomacy.