Abstract
Top level bureaucrats have been the standard fare of studies of bureaucracy. Max Weber’s (1988) treatment of the subject, a sheet-anchor for the study of bureaucracy ever since, has been widely interpreted as a reflection on the role of very senior administrative levels and, in particular, their policy-making roles (see also Armstrong, 1973; Suleiman, 1975; 1978; and Aberbach, Putnam and Rockman, 1981). While the lowest levels of bureaucracy have received some attention (Mechanic, 1962), the only serious appearance in the academic literature on administration is as implementers, and most famously as ‘street level bureaucrats’ (Lipsky, 1980; see also Pahl (1977) for a discussion of ‘urban managers’). The middle levels of the bureaucracy have largely tended to be ignored.2
The research contained in this chapter is supported by Economic and Social Research Council grant RES-000-22-1451 for the project ‘Hierarchy, expertise and policy bureaucracy: a comparative analysis’.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aberbach, J.D., Robert D. Putnam and Bert A. Rockman, Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981).
Armstrong, J.A., The European Administrative Elite (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973).
Bezes, P. and P. Le Lidec, French Top Civil Servants Within Changing Configurations: From Monopolization to Contested Places and Roles?. In E.C. Page and V. Wright (eds), From the Active to the Enabling State. The Changing Role of Top Officials in European National (Basingtoke: Palgrave, 2006).
Carpenter, D.P., The Forging of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Reputations, Network, and Policy Innovation in Executive Agencies, 1862–1928 (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001).
Crozier, M., The Bureeaucratic Phenomenon (London: Tavistock, 1964).
Damaska, M., The Faces of Justice and State Authority: A Comparative Approach to the Legal Process (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1986).
Gouldner, A.W., Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy (New York: Free Press, 1954).
Heclo, H. and A. Wildavsky, The Private Government of Public Money (London Macmillan, 1974).
Hofstede, G., Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (London: Sage, 1984).
Hogwood, C. and B.G. Peters, Policy Dynamics (Brighton: Wheatsheaf, 1983).
Holtzman, A., Legislative Liaison. Execeutive Leadership in Congress (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1970).
Hood, C., M. Lodge and C. Clifford, Civil Service Policy-making Competencies in the German BMWi and the British DTI (London: Adarn Smith Institute, 2002).
Horn, D., The Political Economy of Public Administration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
Huber, J.D. and C.R. Shipan, Deliberate Discretion? The Institutional Foundations of Bureaucratic Autonomy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
Kaufman, H., The Forest Ranger: A Study in Administrative Behavior (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1960).
Kaufman, H., The Administrative Behavior of Federal Bureau Chiefs (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1981).
Kjellberg, F., ‘Review of J.J. Richardson (ed.) Policy Styles in Western Europe’, Journal of Public Policy, 4 (1984), 271–3.
Lipsky, M., Street-Level Bureaucracy: The Dilemmas of Individuals In Public Services (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1980).
Mayntz, R. and F.W. Scharpf, Policy-making in the German Federal Bureaucracy (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1975).
Mechanic, David, ‘Sources of Power of Lower Participants in Complex Organizations’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 7 (1962), 349–64.
Merton, R.K., ‘Bureaucratic structure and personality’, Social Forces, 18 (1940), 560–76.
Mossberger, K., The Politics of Ideas and the Spread of Enterprise Zones (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000).
Page, E.C., Governing by Numbers. Delegated Legislation and Everyday Policy Making (Oxford: Hart, 2001).
Page, E.C., ‘The Civil Servant as Legislator. Law Making in British Administration’, Public Administration, 81(4) (2003), 651–79.
Page, E.C. and B. Jenkins, Policy Bureaucracy: Government with a Cast of Thousands (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).
Pahl, R.E., Managers, Technical Experts and the State: Forms of Mediation, Manipulation and Dominance in Urban and Regional Development. In M. Harloe (ed.), Captive Cities: Studies in the Political Economy of Cities and Regions (London: Wiley, 1977).
Pierre, J., Governning the Welfare State: Public Administration, The State and Society in Sweden. In J. Pierre (ed.), Bureaucracy in the Modern State. An Introduction to Comparative Public Administration (Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1995).
Pierre, J. and P. Ehn, Welfare State Managers: Senior Civil Servants in Sweden. In E.C. Page and V. Wright (eds), Bureaucratic Elites in Western European States (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 249–65.
Performance and Innovation Unit (Cabinet Office) Recovering the Proceeds of Crime (London: Cabinet Office, June, 2001).
Suleiman, E.N., Politics, Position and Power (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975).
Suleiman, E.N., Elites in French Society (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978).
Tocqueville, Alexis de, Democracy in America (London: David Campbell, [1836] 1994).
Weber, M., Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1988).
Wildavsky, A., Speaking Truth to Power (Boston: Little, Brown, 1979).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2007 Edward C. Page
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Page, E.C. (2007). Middle Level Bureaucrats: Policy, Discretion and Control. In: Raadschelders, J.C.N., Toonen, T.A.J., Van der Meer, F.M. (eds) The Civil Service in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230593084_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230593084_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-54620-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-59308-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)