Here's where having a degree in art fucks me over, because I never learned the official term for - looking for a ghost in the machine? - the error of seeing an active intelligence behind a system just because the pattern hasn't been figured out yet.
I don't think a country should be treated as a sentient entity. But that gets into the questions of what is an individual.
The closest I can come is some form of anthropomorphizing, but that doesn't
seem specific enough.
Active intelligence is irrelevant. The point is purpose. Groups have purpose.
And collective interests, which
may not coincide well with the interests
of their membership. Ah, there are those with power, bred by the government,
who have their own interests, and are collectively driving the actions, but such
things are too difficult to predict. Having general models for group behaviours is
necessary, just as behavior of gases doesn't try and predict every molecule.
So, since national governments are not serving the best interests of the
majority of the members, what right do they have?
