The success or failure of empires, nation-states, and city-states often rests on the relationship between bureaucracy and politicians. In this provocative and timely volume, editor Ali Farazmand examines the myriad relationships between politicians and bureaucrats and how they affect modern governance. This book is organized around the major themes of professionalism, bureaucracy, governance, and the relationship between career bureaucrats/higher civil servants and political appointees/politicians under presidential and parliamentary systems. After introducing the basic elements of bureaucracies in Part I, the book discusses the relations between bureaucrats and politicians in presidential systems in Part II as well as in parliamentary systems in Part III. This original and up-to-date book will fill a gap in the literature on the relationship between bureaucrats and politicians in modern governance and public administration. It can be used as a primary or supplementary text at the undergraduate and graduate level for those interested in public administration, comparative public policy, political science, and government.

Bureaucrats and Political Appointees in European Democracies: Who's Who and Does it Make any Difference?

Bureaucrats and Political Appointees in European Democracies: Who's Who and Does it Make any Difference?

Bureaucrats and political appointees in european democracies: Who's who and does it make any difference?
B. GuyPeters

Scholars and practitioners of government working within the Anglo-Saxon tradition are accustomed to making, and assuming, a relatively clear and sharp distinction between the political and the administrative aspects of government. This distinction is assumed to exist both for actions—making versus administering public policies—and for the personnel who perform those actions. This distinction is enshrined both in our empirical analysis of government (Aberbach et al. 1981; Heclo 1977) as well as in our normative analysis of what constitutes good government (Wilson 1887; but see Appleby 1949). The assumption (and to a lesser extent the reality) ...

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