Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy by Benjamin H. Barton.
An interesting paper from the Michigan Law Review. The author interprets the Harry Potter books as presenting a particular view of government (libertarianism) based on J. K. Rowling’s rendering of her fictional Ministry of Magic. The structure, corruption and abuses by the Ministry of the populace (and Harry and his friends in particular) are presented, if I recall correctly, as an allegoric parallel of the U.S. and U.K. governments. I’m not sure how much of this aspect of J.K.R.’s work is intentional but, Barton’s analysis is certainly compelling (even if I don’t agree with the politics of conclusions he reaches).