Myth of sisyphus7/5/2023 ![]() ![]() In line with Albert Camus’ interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus, the best meaning of public budget should be sought and built by theorists and practitioners. Nonetheless, it is not sufficient to be limited by those values. After all, account must be taken of the fact that the public budget stems from the process of advancing civilization, and there is no indication that it will be abandoned by contemporary democracies. It is the only available means through which minimum conditions are created for transparency and accountability in the allocation of public resources. This view, however, is disproportionate, as the public budget has intrinsic value despite all its paradoxes and fragilities. Indeed, one might question the virtue of endlessly repeating, year after year, the cycle of preparing, executing and evaluating the budget if this leads to no significant improvement in a country’s economic and social development. The budget cycle has elements which could make it resemble Sisyphus’ journey. The Myth of Sisyphus and Performance Budgeting To put it in another way, if the universe does not offer answers, man is then free to conceive his own meaning of life. Camus reaches the climax of his philosophical approach by concluding that to push the rock up a mountain is to face life as it is, with all its paradoxes, extracting from it its best meaning. For Camus, however, the moment when the rock rolls back down to the foot of the mountain is the one which interests him the most. On that account, men can feel like strangers in their own world, growing weary of their routines to the point of feeling just like Sisyphus in his absurd journey. On the other hand, there is universe itself, insensitive to human effort to understand it. On the one hand, there is human nature with its appetite for clarity, trying to explain all things. In other words, the sense of the absurd would be an outcome of the collision between the actor (the man) and his setting (the universe). Concluding otherwise would be but a consequence of human consciousness. In fact, for Camus neither life nor the universe is absurd. This is, however, just the starting point of the author’s analysis, who is not a pessimist. In his celebrated essay about the myth of Sisyphus, French-Algerian Albert Camus analyzes this question by acknowledging the human burden of living in an indecipherable universe, which nourishes the sense of existential absurdity, as in the case of Sisyphus’ absurd punishment. What is the use of trying to understand the meaning of life, if in the end no meaning is found? As can be seen, it is quite a didactive metaphor for a pessimistic view of human condition. Every time it neared the top, the rock rolled back down, thereby reinforcing the cycle which would render his existence meaningless. Greek mythology tells of Sisyphus, the astute king of Corinth who was condemned by the gods to repeatedly roll a rock up a mountain for all eternity. ![]() This article proposes to address this issue from a philosophical perspective, more precisely through the analysis of the myth of Sisyphus according to the interpretation of Albert Camus. It could be argued, for instance, that positive experiences can be observed in the development of spending review processes as a performance budgeting tool. The question then arises, what value is there in investing huge effort in the construction of indicators, data collection, IT systems, and so on if the information gathered ultimately serves little purpose but to ornament the budgetary process? This question may sound exaggerated, since performance budgeting can be analyzed from many different angles. In fact, there is still a lack of evidence that performance information is a significant consideration when governments make budget decisions. The second objective, however, may resemble utopia, since substantial modifications in policy-making patterns cannot be provided solely by formal statute. The first objective is more feasible, since a reform of the budget framework can be required by regulation and implemented at a technical level. First, the adoption of more results-oriented language in the discussion of policy issues and, second, the use of performance information as an input to the process of allocating resources through the budget. At least two changes should result from a performance budgeting approach. ![]()
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