A recent article in Foreign Policy, Post-Conflict Potter, recently brought up the nature of stabilization in the Harry Potter universe, set after the defeat of the Death Eaters.

While it is a luxury to engage in detailed analysis of children's books, it is possible to gauge overall competence of an author by studying their policy prescriptions to a relatively simple environment. With this in mind, reviewing the analysis of NGO representatives and the director of the USMC War College gains a particular sort of importance.

The critique of this article will deal with fine detail in asymmetric warfare, and the perils of applying static templates to poorly understood situations. It must be stressed, however, that the authors are indeed correct about disastrous strategic decisions in magical Britain, and reflection on the consequences of these decisions must be brought to bear upon real-world problems.

SCOURGIFY: POST-WAR RECONCILIATION

In a previous response I addressed to Dan Nexon at Duck of Minerva, I suggested that the Death Eaters were relatively fragile without Voldemort as a unifying authority. However, in considering the interregnum between the Wizarding Wars, this may be a premature verdict. During the twelve-year period in which Voldemort was thought to be dead, the pureblood faction, led by Lucius Malfoy, succeeded in advancing their policy objectives and avoiding justice for their previous crimes. After the Battle of Hogwarts, the Death Eaters may indeed be permanently crippled. Anyone with the skill or credibility to hold the organization together after the death of Voldemort- Severus Snape, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, and Pius Thicknesse- has either died, been completely discredited, or gone over to the other side entirely. With that said, remnants such as the Greyback werewolf movement are quite capable of causing considerable damage to Britain, and must be stopped.

A parting of the ways must occur with the authors about the methods by which justice may be attained. The idea that individuals like Lucius Malfoy will voluntarily confess to major crimes, certainly for anything as worthless to them as the greater good of magical Britain, is overly optimistic. Veritaserum provides a guarantee that a skilled questioner can obtain immediate and complete knowledge from a subject, without the brutality of torture. There is no reason to avoid such full revelation, besides misguided respect for the prisoners. While some individuals should be encouraged to provide total disclosure in exchange for complete amnesty, the transitional government- preferably led by Order of the Phoenix members- must insist on complete and wholly truthful understanding of the manipulation their enemies previously used, and retribution against those
clearly unfit for public leadership roles, such as Dolores Umbridge. The Order itself must acknowledge any questionable decisions made by its own members, and accept responsibility for a full after-action report. It would substantially discredit the entire process to all thinking mages if, as some suggest, the Order faced official sanctions for the use of "child soldiers" when indeed Harry Potter was one of the few wizards actively fighting against Voldemort- and had attained the age of majority when he began his quest for the Horcruxes! Without careful use of proportion, the findings of the Ministry will be laughable if the Death Eaters and the Order are equally censured for simply using the same spells. Using Avada Kedavra as an unblockable lethal beam attack provides a major advantage in a duel, as opposed to the moral turptitude of using it for the wholesale slaughter of innocent Muggles.

THE CENTAUR LIASION OFFICE: DEALING WITH MAGICAL CREATURES

In terms of dealing with various non-wizard communities in the post-war environment, the authors give advice that, while well-meaning, would be wholly disastrous. Only the most wizard-centric Muggle could seriously suggest deploying Aurors to "protect" the community of centaurs in the forests of Hogwarts. Setting aside the fact the centaurs are more than capable of defending themselves against wizards, the centaur leadership would find such action an unforgivable offense against their sovereignty, and respond predictably.

Such beings, who have requested "beast" classification from the Ministry of Magic to demonstrate their contempt and separate nature in regards to wizarding law, should be dealt with far more cautiously. If the Ministry officially recognized centaur sovereignty over the Forbidden Forest, and simply warned aggressive wandholders that the Ministry will not interfere with centaur retribution against trespassers, the situation may become far more hopeful. Similar respect should be shown to the merpeople of the Hogwarts lake. The goblin community rendered assistance to the Order in their quest to destroy the Horcruxes: however, they would display only disgust at the thought of being protected by Aurors. The Ministry should recognize goblin wishes by arranging negotiations to teach basic wandlore in exchange for goblin technology, which would be far more meaningful to goblin chieftains. Even an attempt to "free" house-elves without careful respect for their well-being could result in Ministry representatives simply being thrust from Hogwarts by tiny hands, than in any real progress. Only by asking for knowledge of elf-magic, and soberly moving ahead with enlightened instructions to house-elves with an eye to eventual autonomy, can any success be hoped for with this relatively subservient magical race.

The recommendations of the Muggle consultants in regard to far more dangerous groups are so ill-advised that it is certain the Ministry of Magic will immediately implement them. Giants and trolls have little sense of history, and most trolls barely have a sense of language. Such beings attack humans because they enjoy violence and plunder, not merely because of previous human racism. In fact, formidable diplomatic overtures were made on behalf of Albus Dumbledore by two prodigiously skilled half-giants to the giant tribes during the interregnum. However, a small cabal of Death Eaters successfully used appeals to hatred and violence to convince the giants to massacre factions sympathetic to the Order. From this major setback, it can be inferred that strength must be used heavily in any negotiation with the giant clans of Britain, preferably by using assassination and intimidation to resolve conflicts with implacably hostile individuals. In the same vein, the half-giant who delivered extraordinary care to the Acromantula progenitor, Aragog- even at the cost of his own magical career- was immmediately set upon by the Acromantula colony of Britain after Aragog's death. Anything short of immediate and near-total extermination of this colony will leave it as a certain threat to wizards and Muggles alike. In dealing with these groups, no negotiation short of "sacrificing Muggles as bait" will hold any credibility, and therefore far harsher lines must be taken.

TO BE HIGHLY EFFICIENT: THE POST-WAR MINISTRY

However, the most shockingly sanguine analysis presented by the authors of "Post-Conflict Potter," relate to their opinions of magical Great Britain, which they regard as one of the states "that already have strong institutions." As the most cursory view of the Second Wizarding War shows, the MOM was in reality so weak that it was subverted by an unstable megalomaniac and his band of murderers without so much as an election. All major institutions in the MOM were turned against the Order of the Phoenix, with individuals such as Dolores Umbridge successfully presiding over an unprecedented campaign of terror against magical beings and Muggleborns. Given the incredible failure of the MOM to protect the interests of its citizens, any transitional government by definition has far greater legitimacy, and must resist Death Eater insurrection with finality. Considering the complete lack of major resistance to the Death Eaters by non-Order members, the compassion of the Order will be exploited by unscrupulous individuals such as Lucius Malfoy, causing a major loss of legitimacy for the new regime.

One area in which whole-hearted agreement may be reached with my Muggle predecessors is in the area of the corrections system. The concept of using Dementors to guard criminal wandholders was not only horrifically unethical, but a major security risk. The idea that scaremongers could encourage a return to Dementor use, despite their role in Azkaban's major security breach, is a questionable assertion. These evil creatures should all be completely destroyed, or driven onto a deserted island if destruction failed- their powers and viewpoints are wholly incompatible with a modern magical government. The singularly evil institution of Azkaban should be immediately rendered superfluous by prisoner transfers, with major effort put into building new prisons if necessary, at which point Azkaban should be razed to its foundations. While full jury trials face the prior difficulties of Death Eater retaliation against juror families, much more effort than the token Wizengamot reviews should be made in future convictions. Skilled security operatives such as Sirius Black were imprisoned on flimsy charges under the old system, and the flagrant disregard of evidence that characterized the interregnum cannot be permitted under a reformed Ministry. Use of Veritaserum, Pensieves (to witness thoughts, tampered or otherwise), and Prior Incantato (checking wands for previously cast spells) will go a long way towards assisting the investigative process while minimizing the risk to the unjustly accessed. Given these investigative tools, use of either Cruciatus or enhanced hexation should be immediately banned in the use of criminal proceedings. In Muggle environments where such convenient magical tools are unavailable, the questionable value of enhanced hexation should result in such processes taking a back seat to patient investigation and rapport-building.

The previous Ministry seemed to put cauldron regulations higher than common-sense security measures in its purpose, and government cannot be caught up in easily-ignored "magical constitutions" while so many critical issues remain unresolved. Indeed, the idea of elections deciding who will decide the fate of magical Britain seems guaranteed to produce another minister like Cornelius Fudge, unless a charm that magically induces sense in the wandholder electorate can be devised. The lessons of the war show that those individuals who contribute to the well-being of society should be the ones who have a greater voice in how the laws of society develop. The Order of the Phoenix often acted in direct opposition to the Ministry, yet their efforts were the only thing standing in the way of the Death Eaters. The recognition of effort must be acknowledged in any future leadership of Britain, as opposed to merely selecting the person most personally popular with the least informed voters. Given that the main competitor to the government newspaper writes about Crumple-Horned Snorcacks, it is certainly a possibility that a large market exists to provide the magical world with competition in newspapers. Deregulation permitting interested wizards and witches to publish their own information should be a major priority for any magical government. As witches and wizards can instantly communicate via the Floo Network, or even travel directly to each other with minimal downtime using Apparition, suggestions for Sparrow Post seem guaranteed to be an unnecessary duplication of effort- though some wandholders may indeed find sparrows a useful method of communication, and should not be discouraged!

Given the excessively cruel and wholly ineffectual methods used to attempt to maintain order in magical Britain, combined with government propaganda so blatantly in the realm of fantasy, if the Death Eaters had not overthrown the leaders of magical Britain it might be necessary for us to do it ourselves. Now that the old order has been fully discredited, it is time for all right-thinking wizards and witches to participate in building a new, better future for wandholder and Muggle alike.

I strongly disagree.

Actually, that is incorrect. You are right that food is the first of the five principle exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration in that it cannot simply be created out of nothing. However, as noted by Herminone in the Deathy Hallows, if you already have some food its quantity can be increased, possibly through the use of an Engorgement charm as is noted in this article.

Hermione: "Your mother can’t produce food out of thin air, no one can. Food is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfigura—"

Ron: "Oh, speak English, can’t you?"

Hermione: "It’s impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you’ve already got some..."

— Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley on the exceptions to Gamp's Law

Whilst I completely agree that Slytherins are not connected to extremism, the housing system at Hogwarts needs drastic reform. The fact that sorting is based on purported ideological or ancestral grounds allows social divisions to be reinforced in the field of education. Unfortunately, as is clearly evidenced in Rowling's accounts of the conflict, deep-seated prejudices and suspicions have emerged in regards to the housing system, with Slytherin alumni being linked with magical extremism. Simply abolishing Slytherin, however, would be an ineffective attempt to cover over these divisions without addressing them. A superficial reform of the housing system (for example, maintaining the four traditional houses whilst changing the sorting criteria) would only harbour resentment. What is needed is a whole-sale reform of the housing, and I would go as far to say the entire education, system, either with its abolition, or with the establishment of entirely new houses with no politically sensitive connections.

While I think Cruciatus shouldn't generally be used on hospital patients, I will concede that Harry uses both Cruciatus and Imperius when he needs to, and for a generally good cause. While Stunning Spells are quite useful, the fact Avada Kedavra is unblockable and instantly lethal makes it a necessity while fighting Dark Wizards who use the spell. When Unforgivable Curses are outlawed, only outlaws etc.

Lot of good responses to this article, honestly.