1. 1 Chapter 17 Bureaucracies

2. 2 ‘Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies’ Honore De Balzac Epigrams

3. 3 Theories of Bureaucracy As rational-administrative model For Weber, bureaucracy was an ‘ideal type’ of rule based on a system of rational rules, as opposed to either tradition or charisma. Bureaucratic principles: Jurisdictional areas are fixed and official, and ordered by laws or rules. There is a firmly ordered hierarchy, which ensures that lower offices are supervised by specified higher ones within a chain of command. Business is managed on the basis of written documents and a filing system. The authority of officials is impersonal and stems entirely from the post they hold, not from personal status. Bureaucratic rules are strict enough to minimise the scope of personal discretion. Appointment and advancement within a bureaucracy are based on professional criteria, such as training, expertise and administrative competence.

4. 4 The central feature of bureaucracy from the Weberian perspective is its rationality, because bureaucratisation reflects the advance of a reliable, predictable and, above all, efficient means of social organisation. The growth of bureaucratisation was further stimulated by the pressures of democratisation, which weakened ideas such as tradition, privilege and duty, and replaced them with a belief in open competition and meritocracy.

5. 5 As conservative power bloc Marx linked it to the specific requirements of capitalism; focus more with the class role played by the state bureaucracy. View the bureaucracy as a mechanism through which bourgeois interests are upheld and the capitalist system defended. Senior civil servants have the capacity to act as a conservative veto group that dilutes, even blocks, the radical initiatives of socialist ministers and socialist governments.

6. 6 As a source of government oversupply central to this model of bureaucracy is a concern with the interests and motivations of bureaucrats themselves. Bureaucrats are motivated by career self-interest and seek an expansion of the agency in which they work and an increase in its budget. Bureaucratic growth guarantees job security, expands promotion prospects, improves salaries, and brings top officials greater power, patronage and prestige. Bureaucracies are not disciplined by the profit motive. The taxpayer is always there to pick up the bill. Bureaucracies are usually monopolies, and are in no way forced to respond to market pressures.

7. 7 Functions/role of Bureaucracies Carrying out administration : implement or executive law and policy; charge with administering government business; the sizes of bureaucracies are closely linked to the broader responsibilities of government. Offering policy advice : as chief source of the policy information and advice available to government. Top level civil servants expected to act as policy advisers; middle to low ranking civil servants deal with more routine administrative matters.

8. 8 Cont. Articulating and aggregating interests : often help to articulate and aggregate interests; brought into contact with interest groups through their task of policy implementation and their involvement in policy formulation and advice. Maintaining political stability : the existence of a body of trained career officials provide the only guarantee that government is conducted in an orderly and reliable fashion; depend on the status of bureaucrats as permanent and professional public servants.

9. 9 Sources of bureaucratic power The strategic position of bureaucrats in the policy process The logistical relationship between bureaucrats and ministers The status and expertise of bureaucrats

10. 10 How can bureaucrats be controlled? The creation of mechanisms of political accountability : can be made accountable to the political executive, the assembly, the judiciary, or the public. Legislative oversight may also help to ensure that bureaucrats are politically accountable. The politicisation of the civil service : recruit senior bureaucrats into the ideological enthusiasms of the government; control is overtly accomplished through a system of political appointments. The construction of counter-bureaucracies: use of political advisers, ‘outsiders’ or think tanks, which is now a feature of almost all modern states.

11. 11 Ombudsman ( 監察史 ): It is a Scandinavian word that has no exact English equivalent. An ombudsman is an officer of the state who is appointed to safeguard citizens’ rights in a particular sector and investigate allegations of maladministration, ranging from the improper use of powers to the failure to follow procedures and simple incompetence. The role of an ombudsman is to supplement, not replace, normal avenues of complaints such as administrative courts or elected representatives.