Abstract
Organising and administering modern states is a massive process that requires skill, experience and expertise. For centuries, bureaucracies have played an important role in politics, and rulers have wrestled with the problem of keeping effective control over their civil servants. However, the impact of the bureaucracy on policy-making has grown with the expansion of government. In communist party states, centralised party control over society placed great power in the hands of the bureaucrats. Civil servants also play a major role in many liberal democracies. For example, Metternich’s description of Austria in the last century as ‘not governed but administered’ still fits. Similarly, C. Johnson (1982) has argued that in Japan, although elected politicians have formal positions of power, bureaucrats are the major influence on decision-making.
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Key Reading
Heady, F. (1979) Public Administration: A Comparative Perspective (New York: Marcel Dekker). A comprehensive study of comparative administration.
Blau, P. and Meyer, M. (eds) (1987) Bureaucracy in Modern Society, 3rd edn (New York: Random House). An accessible introduction to the study of bureaucracy.
Rowat, D. (ed.) (1988) Public Administration in Developed Democracies: A Comparative Study, (New York: Marcel Dekker). A country-by-country study tied together by comparative chapters.
Harding, N, (ed.) (1984) The State in Socialist Society, (London: Macmillan). Contains much information on how bureaucracies were organised in communist party states.
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© 1992 Rod Hague, Martin Harrop and Shaun Breslin
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Hague, R., Harrop, M., Breslin, S. (1992). The Bureaucracy. In: Comparative Government and Politics. Comparative Government and Politics. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22276-6_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22276-6_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-55820-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-22276-6
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