Abstract
Gordon Tullock’s The Politics of Bureaucracy must be considered one of the most important works on bureaucracy ever written. In this paper, I argue that Tullock’s analysis of bureaucracy is as relevant as ever. To support this claim, I focus on U.S.-led reconstruction efforts which attempt to export liberal democracy via military occupation. Bureaucratic organizations play a key role in these reconstruction efforts and as such, Tullock’s analysis is directly relevant. It is argued that Tullock’s study clarifies not just the limits of bureaucratic activity, but also the importance of spontaneous orders for coordinating activities outside those limits and generating the very institutional context in which liberal democracy can evolve and sustain. The main conclusion is that the nature of public bureaucracy constrains the ability of the United States to exogenously impose liberal democratic institutions in foreign countries for the very reasons Tullock emphasized long ago.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bellin, E. (2004–2005). The Iraqi intervention and democracy in comparative perspective. Political Science Quarterly, 119(4), 595–608.
Boettke, P. J., & Coyne, C. J. (2006a, forthcoming). Liberalism in the post-9/11 world. Indian Journal of Business and Economics.
Chandrasekaran, R. (2006). Who killed Iraq? Foreign Policy, September/October, 36–43.
Coyne, C. (2005). The institutional prerequisites for post-conflict reconstruction. The Review of Austrian Economics, 18(3/4), 325–342.
Coyne, C. (2006). Reconstructing weak and failed states: Insights from Tocqueville. Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, 31(2), 143–162.
Diamond, L. (2005). Squandered victory: The American occupation and the bungled effort to bring democracy to Iraq. New York: Times Books.
Dobbins, J., McGinn, J. G., Crane, K., Jones, S. G., Lal, R., Rathmell, A., Swanger, R. M., & Timilsina, A. (2003). America’s role in nation-building: From Germany to Iraq. Santa California: RAND.
Dower, J. W. (1980). Empire and aftermath: Yoshida Shiqeru and the Japanese empire, 1878 1954. Massachusetts: Harvard Council on East Asian Studies.
Dower, J. W. (1999). Embracing defeat: Japan in the wake of World War II. New York: Norton.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Gordon, A. (2003). A modern history of Japan. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hayek, F. A. (1979). Law, legislation and liberty: Vol. III: The political order of a free people. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
von Mises, L. (1944 [1983]). Bureaucracy. Grove City: Libertarian Press, Inc.
Niskanen, W. N. (1971). Bureaucracy and representative government. Aldine: Atherton.
North, D. C. (2005). Understanding the process of economic change. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Packer, G. (2005). The Assassins’ gate. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux.
Payne, J. L. (2006a). Does nation building work? The Independent Review, X(4), 597–608.
Payne, J. L. (2006b). Did the United States create democracy in Germany? The Independent Review, XI(2), 209–222.
Peterson, E. N. (1977). The American occupation of Germany: Retreat to victory. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Phillips, D. L. (2005). Losing Iraq: Inside the postwar reconstruction fiasco. New York: Basic Books.
Ricks, T. E. (2006). Fiasco: The American military adventure in Iraq. New York: Penguin.
Rowley, C. (2005). Introduction. In C. Rowley (Ed.), The selected works of Gordon Tullock : Vol. 6. Bureaucracy (pp. ix–xvii). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Stephens, J., & Ottaway, D. B. (2005). A rebuilding plan full of cracks. The Washington Post, November 20, A01.
de Tocqueville, A. (1835/1839) [1969]. Democracy in America. J. P. Mayer (Ed.), translated by G. Lawrence. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Tullock, G. (1965) [2005]. The politics of bureaucracy. In C. Rowley (Ed.), The selected works of Gordon Tullock : Vol. 6. Bureaucracy (pp. 13–235). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Tullock, G. (1992) [2005]. Economic hierrchies, organization and the structure of produtin. In C. Rowley (Ed.), The selected works of Gordon Tullock : Vol. 6. Bureaucracy (pp. 241–416). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.
Weber, M. (1922). Economy and society. New York: Bedminster Press.
Zakaria, F. (2003). The future of freedom: Illiberal democracy at home and abroad. New York: Norton.
Zingales, L. (2003). For Iraq, a plan worthy of Zambia. The Washington Post, November 9, B02.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coyne, C.J. The Politics of Bureaucracy and the failure of post-war reconstruction. Public Choice 135, 11–22 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9243-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-007-9243-0