Skip to main content
Book cover

Beyond Bureaucracy pp 27–47Cite as

In Defence of Bureaucracy: Governance and Public Values in a Digital Age

Part of the Public Administration and Information Technology book series (PAIT,volume 25)

Abstract

Almost from the moment the term was first coined, bureaucracy has been the subject of strong criticism and, if anything, such criticism has become more trenchant in recent decades. Numerous scholars, practitioners and politicians have talked about or envisaged systems of government/public administration which move beyond bureaucracy. These range from the tried to the theoretical. Others have forecast the end of bureaucracy—increasingly invoking information technology as a tool which can be used to achieve this end. In this chapter, a counter argument will be presented, i.e. that when it comes to protecting and vindicating public values in a complex modern state, bureaucracy can play a vital, and hard to displace, role.

Keywords

  • Public Administration
  • Direct Democracy
  • Deliberative Democracy
  • Network Governance
  • Public Governance

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-54142-6_3
  • Chapter length: 21 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-319-54142-6
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Both Mosca and Michels’ books can be downloaded in English translation from the Internet.

  2. 2.

    The cost of intellectual honesty can be high. At the time of writing, the government of Greece has just launched a criminal prosecution against its own chief statistician on the grounds that he “exaggerated” the problems of Greek government finances. All he seems to have done was to apply the European Union’s rules correctly—something which showed the state of the country’s finances to be much worse than the government claimed.

  3. 3.

    “Gotcha” is shorthand for “got you” or “caught you”, i.e. popular press headlines when they catch civil servants or politicians allegedly misbehaving.

  4. 4.

    Steganography is the art of hiding in plain sight which is a form of camouflage or encryption. In this context, governments can bury the public in information in a way that makes it hard for citizens to see what is actually important.

  5. 5.

    Many years ago, I heard a senior Irish civil servant talk about her first day in the Irish Department of Finance (Treasury). Called to her “welcome” meeting with her principal officer, he looked at her and said “Welcome to the Department of Finance Miss Keane. Never forget, as long as you work here you are the taxpayers last line of defence. That will be all. Good day to you”.

  6. 6.

    A widespread criticism of modern corporate management and governance is that it only had to meet one criterion—shareholder value (which is usually conveniently aligned with the executive compensation system).

  7. 7.

    This became famous as a catchphrase in the British TV comedy series Little Britain.

  8. 8.

    Some systems, for example AI-based booking systems, already do this.

  9. 9.

    It is noteworthy that much early work on informatisation in the 1980s focussed on the potential of expert systems in law and public administration.

References

  • Alberow, M. (1970) Bureaucracy, London, Pall Mall Press.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bannister, F., (2001) Dismantling the silos: extracting new value from IT investments in public administration. Information Systems Journal, 11(1), 65–84.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bannister, F. and Connolly, R. (2011) The Trouble with Transparency. Policy and Internet, 3(1), 1–30.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bannister, F. and Connolly, R. (2012) Defining e-Governance. e-Services Journal, 8(2), 3–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bannister, F. and Connolly, R. (2014) ICT, public values and transformative government: A framework and programme for research. Government Information Quarterly, 31(1), 119–128.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Benz, M. and Frey, B.S. (2007) Corporate governance: what can we learn from public governance?. Academy of Management Review, 32(1), 92–104.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P.T and. Grimes, J.M. (2010) Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies, Government information quarterly, 27(3), 264–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bevir, M. (2012) Governance: A very short introduction, Oxford, OUP.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Bolt, R. (2013—original 1966) A Man for All Seasons, London, Bloomsbury Methuan Drama.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonina, C. M. and Cordella, A. (2009) Public sector reforms and the notion of ‘public value’: implications for egovernment deployment: In: Proceedings of the 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems, 6th-9th August, San Francisco, CA. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/43672/ (accessed February 12th, 2013).

  • Bovaird, T. and Löffler, E. (2002) Understanding Public Management and Governance: In Bovaird, T. and Löffler, E., Eds., Public Management and Governance, London, Routledge, 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Box, G. E. P. (1976) Science and Statistics, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 71, 791–799.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Cabinet Office, Government Digital Services (2011) Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, opens the new home of the Government Digital Service. London, Cabinet Office. Available at: https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2011/12/08/new-home-for-gds/. (accessed 19th December 2016).

  • Dawes, S. and N. Helbig (2010) Information strategies for open government: Challenges and prospects for deriving public value from government transparency: In International Conference on Electronic Government August 2010, Berlin/Heidelberg, Springer, 50–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Gay, P. (2000) In praise of bureaucracy: Weber-organization-ethics, London, Sage Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunleavy, P. J. (1985) Bureaucrats, budgets and the growth of the state. British Journal of Political Science, 15, 299–338.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dunleavy, P., Margetts, H., Bastow, S. and Tinkler, J. (2006) New public management is dead—long live digital-era governance. Journal of public administration research and theory, 16(3), 467–494.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dunsire, A. (1995) Administrative Theory in the 1980s: A Viewpoint. Public Administration, 73, 17–40.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Frederickson, H. G. (1996) comparing the reinventing government movement with the new public administration. Public Administration Review, 263–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrich, C.J., 1952. Some observations on Weber’s analysis of bureaucracy. Reader in Bureaucracy, Glencoe, The Free Press, 27–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodsell, C. T. (2004) The case for bureaucracy: A public administration polemic, Washington, CQ Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grimmelikhuijsen, S. (2012) A good man but a bad wizard. About the limits and future of transparency of democratic government., Information Polity, 17 (3/4), 293–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heckscher, C. (1994) The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: new perspectives on organizational change: In Heckscher, C. and Donnellon, A., eds, The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: new perspectives on organizational change, Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 14–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • HM Government (2011) Government ICT Strategy—Strategic Implementation Plan (2011). London, HM Government.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. (1991) A public management for all seasons?, Public administration. 69(1), 3–19.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Hood, C. and Dixon, R. (2015) What we have to show for 30 years of new public management: Higher costs, more complaints. Governance, 28(3), 265–267.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen, M. C. and W.H. Meckling (1976) Theory of the Firm, Managerial Costs and Ownership Structure. Journal of Financial Economics (III), 305–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jørgensen, T. B., and Bozeman, B. (2007) Public values an inventory. Administration & Society, 39(3), 354–381.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Kearns, I. (2004) Public Value and E-Government, London. Evaston IL, Institute for Policy Research, Available at: www.ippr.org.

  • Kernaghan, K. (2000) The post-bureaucratic organization and public service values. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 66 (1), 91–104.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Kernaghan, K. (2003) Integrating values into public service: The values statement as centrepiece. Public Administration Review, 63(6), 711–719.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Klievink, B. and Janssen, M. (2010) Coordinating e-government service delivery: In Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Digital Government Research Conference on Public Administration Online: Challenges and Opportunities, May 2010, Digital Government Society of North America, 209–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krastev, I. (2013) In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don’t Trust Our Leaders?, TED Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, S. D. and Dubner, S.J. (2010) Freakonomics, New York, Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michels, R. (1962) Political Parties, New York, Collier Books. (originally published as Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie; Untersuchungen über die oligarchischen Tendenzen des Gruppenlebens, in 1911).

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintzberg, H. (1979). The structuring of organization, A Synthesis of the Research. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mosca, G. (1939) The Ruling Class, New York, McGraw Hill (originally published 1895 as Elementi di Scienza Politica).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nolan, M. (1995) First Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, London, HMSO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nora, S. and Minc, A. (1980) The computerization of society: A report to the President of France. Translated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, MA: MITPress.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) (2009) Regulatory Impact Analysis: A Tool for Policy Coherence, OECD. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/gov/regulatory-policy/ria-tool-for-policy-coherence.htm (accessed 15th December 2016).

  • Osborne, D. (1993). Reinventing government, Public Productivity & Management Review, July 1, 349–356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, S. P. (2003) The New Public Governance. Public Management Review, 377–387.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, S. P. (Ed.). (2010). The new public governance: Emerging perspectives on the theory and practice of public governance, Abingdon, Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, D. and Gaebler, T. (1993) Reinventing Government. How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, New York, Penguin Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborne, D., and Plastrik, P. (1997). Banishing Bureaucracy: The Five Strategies for Reinventing Government, Reading MA, Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peppard, J. (2005) The application of the viable systems model to information technology governance: In International Conference on Information Systems 2005 Proceedings, December, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R. (2004) Crafting Information Technology Governance. Information Systems Management, 21(4), 7–22.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Pollitt, C. (1990) Managerialism and the public services: the Anglo-American experience, Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, R.A.W. (1997) Understanding Governance: Policy Networks, Governance, Reflexivity and Accountability, Buckingham, PA, Open University Press,.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, T. (1998) Public Sector Ethics: Prospects and Challenges: In Sampford, C. Preston, N. and Bois, C-A., eds, Public Sector Ethics: Finding and Implementing Value, London, The Federation Press, Routledge., 13–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoker, G. (2006) Public value management a new narrative for networked governance?. The American Review of Public Administration, 36(1), 41–57.

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin, J. (1978) A Proposal for International Monetary Reform, Eastern Economic Journal. Eastern Economic Association, 153–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Wart, M. (1998) Changing Public Sector Values, New York, Garland Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. (1946) Bureaucracy in Max Weber: essays in sociology. 196, 232–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. Q. (1967) The bureaucracy problem. The Public Interest, (6), 3.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

    Frank Bannister

Authors
  1. Frank Bannister
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Bannister .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vienna University of Technology, Institute of Computer Aided Automation, Wien, Wien, Austria

    Alois A. Paulin

  2. Project Management Department, Technological Education Inst (TEI), Larissa, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Leonidas G. Anthopoulos

  3. Dept of Public Administration, The Univ of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    Prof. Christopher G. Reddick

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bannister, F. (2017). In Defence of Bureaucracy: Governance and Public Values in a Digital Age. In: Paulin, A., Anthopoulos, L., Reddick, C. (eds) Beyond Bureaucracy. Public Administration and Information Technology, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54142-6_3

Download citation