Burke, Edmund 41Further Reading
Southey, R. John Bunyan.1830.
bureaucracy/bureaucratic
Although this concept has several meanings, it is tech-
nically “rule by bureau” or government by official
agency. In the 20th century, it often has negative con-
notations of inefficiency, complexity, unresponsive-
ness, undemocratic and elitist governmental, or
private organizations. So to call someone or some state
“bureaucratic” usually is a criticism of “red tape,”
complex regulations, uncooperative officials, and gen-
eral ineffectiveness.
Bureaucracy is a fairly recent development in West-
ern governments, though Eastern regimes such as the
Ottoman Empire and China had a highly bureaucratic
STATE for centuries. Generally, the larger and more
complex a country or agency, the more bureaucratic it
becomes. So, for example, the Roman CATHOLIC
Church (or at least its administrative center, the Vati-
can) is often seen as characterized by bureaucracy
because of its large, worldwide organization.
Max WEBER, the leading modern thinker on bureau-
cracy, claimed that as most organizations (states, busi-
nesses, political parties, universities, labor unions,
hospitals, etc.) became more complex and large, they
would inevitably become more bureaucratic. Weber, a
German sociologist, identified several traits in the
ideal bureaucracy: (1) hierarchy (ranks of authority);
(2) impersonality (treatment of people is uniform
regardless of who the clients is); (3) continuity (offi-
cials work as full-time, professional, salaried experts);
and (4) merit (employment and advancement are
according to established standards such as education,
experience, and performance, not personal connec-
tions or arbitrary favoritism). The professional, com-
petent, fair administrators produced by such a
bureaucracy were seen by many in the 19th-century
European and American worlds as an improvement
over the arbitrary, incompetent, dictatorial rule of
hereditary princes or party bosses. The development of
the civil service in those countries was seen as creating
a clean, honest, efficient public service out of the
incompetent, corrupt, and ineffective rule of ordinary
citizens. This contempt for nonexperts often makes
the bureaucracy a target for public scorn and periodic
attacks by politicians and common people. In the
United States, government bureaucracy is often con-
trasted with the efficiency of the private, business sec-
tor, and conservatives often try to “cut back” the
bureaucracy through budget cuts and public personnel
reductions. Attempts at “privatization” of public pro-
grams (welfare, prisons, education, housing) are often
appealed to as less bureaucratic than government pro-
grams. In general, American DEMOCRATSand LIBERALS,
who favor more federal government regulation, are less
critical of the STATE bureaucracy, while REPUBLICANS
often attack the bureaucracy and the taxes required to
operate them.
Recent organization theory challenges the claims of
bureaucracy by asserting that smaller organizations
(and individuals) are more efficient than large organi-
zations, that HIERARCHYcan reduce the flow of informa-
tion and creative innovations, that specialization can
foster inflexibility, and that impersonal, uniform rules
can be inhumane.
Democratic criticism of bureaucracy usually centers
around the loss of popular control of government to
administrative experts and the relative impotence of
short-term, elected representatives when compared to
permanent career civil servants. Attempts to control
the bureaucracy range from such open access laws as
the Freedom of Information Act (allowing ordinary
citizens access to government records) and legal proce-
dures guaranteeing individual private RIGHTSagainst
bureaucratic fiat.Further Readings
Albrow, M. Bureaucracy .New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970.
Blau, P. M., and Meyer, M. W. Bureaucracy in Modern Society.
New York: Random House, 1971.
Kamenka, E., and Krygier, M. Bureaucracy.New York: St. Mar-
tin’s Press, 1979.
Kellner, P., and Crowther-Hunt, N. The Civil Servants.London:
Macdonald, Raven Books, 1980.
Page, E. C. Political Authority and Bureaucratic Power.Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press, 1985.
Rizzi, B. The Bureaucratization of the World.New York: Free
Press, 1985.Burke, Edmund (1729–1797) British states-
man and political philosopher
Born in Ireland, educated at Trinity College, Dublin,
Burke migrated to London to study law. Through a
long political career including terms in Parliament,
Burke came to represent the traditional British CONSER-
VATIVEthought. Burkean conservatism values the past
traditions, manners, education, and culture. It rejects