Bureaucracy

The term bureaucracy is one of those political concepts that have become part of our daily speech. Bureaucracy carries strong emotive overtones and elusive connotations that in everyday parlance evoke negative images of red tape, costly administrative inefficiencies, cumbersome procedures, and unresponsive public officials who are oblivious and unresponsive to the needs and wants of citizens. The very passions that the term raises in us, however, obscure a more specific and meaningful understanding of the sense in which it has been or should be used. Turning to the social sciences in hope for terminological clarification can produce further frustration and bewilderment because over time and across disciplines a great many authors have added to the wide array of—sometimes incompatible—concepts of bureaucracy. Although in some writings bureaucracy is used interchangeably with “public sector” or “public administration,” in other contexts the term denotes a method of social coordination (as opposed to markets or networks). Still other authors see it as a specific mode of conduct based on the application of general rules to particular cases. Also, bureaucracy can refer to a social group—those who work in an office, be it a private or public one. More commonly, however, this usage is reserved for public employees, and especially for senior civil servants. In many respects, the concept of bureaucracy is irrevocably linked to the exercise of political power and authority. The semantic roots of the term can be traced back to the word bureau—signifying a place where officials work—and the Greek word for rule. In eighteenth-century France, the economist Vincent de Gournay (1712–1759) popularized the usage of the term as a conceptual addition to the classical Greek typology of systems of government. Seen from this angle, bureaucracy is a system of rule in which officials dominate.

Without a doubt, the single most influential contribution to the debate on bureaucracy was made by the German social scientist Max Weber (1864–1920). He is generally acknowledged to have developed the most comprehensive classic formulation of the characteristics of bureaucracy. What follows is an attempt to put his elaborate conception of bureaucracy in its political and historical context and to explore the relevance of the Weberian bureaucratic state for contemporary public management.