Toward a Historical-Comparative Perspective on Bureaucracies

Michiel S. De Vries

International Review of Public Administration, 1999, vol. 4, issue 1, 55-69

Abstract: In the discipline of public administration an ambivalent relation exists with the research object. On the one hand we train people to become civil servants, and as soon as they enter the administration we treat them like bureaucrats with all its negative associations. Bureaucrats are seen as people who maximize what they should be satisfied with, e.g. their size and budget, and who are satisfied with the things they should maximize, e.g. the effectiveness of policies. This article argues that a historical perspective on bureaucracies may present another picture of bureaucracies. This theory departs from the axiom that public resources are scarce and the demands placed on it are high. Subsequently not all demands can be satisfied at the same time. The public sector has to choose. It is argued further that governments tend to shift attention in phases and neglect other demands accordingly. This has also implications for the administrative system. This is expected to be subservient during one period, to be democratic and to take into account a multitude of opinions in the next period, after which it is expected to be as efficient as possible, even becoming entrepeneurs, because such demands were neglected in the previous period. Nowadays public integrity is getting more priority. It is argued here that this new attention can be explained by analyzing long term developments and especially by looking at the aspects of administrative behavior that have been neglected mostly in the previous period.

Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1080/12294659.1999.10804923

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