Partnerships with the private sector give corporate élites a privileged
relationship to bureaucrats compared with those sections of society depend-
ent on public services financed through taxation. The loss of a ‘democratic
tradition of ethical standards’ requiring accountability, the representation of
minorities and women, impartiality and responsiveness in favour of market
values, productivity, competition and profitability means that ‘the norma-
tive criteria or rationales for public policies and administrative decisions are
likely to be based on market driven criteria rather than the opinions and
expectations of citizens’. The role of bureaucracy as the facilitator, regula-
tor and co-ordinator of private sector contractors makes it more difficult to
create a culture of public service in the public interest (Haque, 1999).
Conclusion
Bureaucracy as a form of government stands in stark contrast to the concept
of a neutral administrative instrument. The former rests on a perception of
bureaucracy as being able to exercise power in its own right, either relative
to other political institutions of parliamentary democracy or party govern-
ment, or as a consequence of having usurped them in alliance with the mil-
itary, or as having emerged as a new kind of politically andeconomically
dominant class. The latter model must form part of the democratization
process that is currently underway in many Third World countries. To
secure bureaucracy’s place in a democratic regime requires institutions
capable of ensuring recruitment on the basis of merit rather than patronage,
nepotism or corruption; transparency in the administration of public policy,
and accountability for maladministration and incompetence. Most develop-
ing countries are still a long way from enjoying effective scrutiny of bureau-
cracy by legislatures, courts and civil society, and are under pressure for the
international development community to reform in ways which are unlikely
to redress the imbalance in political power.
172 Understanding Third World Politics