Higher order goals as masks : a philosophical reflection on expenditure budgeting

Abstract

Expenditures in a public budget are typically arranged as a hierarchical tree of goals where lower level goals are understood as means to higher order ends. This goal hierarchy is used in strategic planning and to justify expenditures.Goal hierarchies are conceptually suspect, as higher order goals generally underdetermine their sub-goals and vice versa.The ques- tion ariseswhether higher order goalsmight not be a mere rhetorical de- vicemasking the real agendas of those in power.Although goal hierarchies are problematical, one cannot do without them. Higher order goals are necessary froma budgeting andwell as a political point of view. Goal hier- archies in budgets should be retained, but with modest expectations re- garding their rationality.This article suggests a square of opposition as a tool for analysing the relationship between goals in a budget.