Bureaucracy

by Beetham David, Frank Parkin (Editor)

What is bureaucracy? Are people right to see it as synonymous with red-tape, feather-bedding and inefficiency? Can it be controlled by politicians, or made more responsive to citizens? Is it only confined to the public sector, or is it pervasive throughout all modern organizations? These are only some of the questions addressed in David Beetham's concise and wide-ranging study. This second edition provides a clear guide through the disciplines of economics, sociology and political science, and through competing social theories, including structural, cultural and rational choice approaches. It also offers its own synthesis which goes beyond them. The second edition has been revised and updated in the light of recent academic and political developments. For anyone who wants a lucid introduction to the meaning and significance of bureaucracy, and its relation to democracy, this book is essential reading.

Genres: Political Science

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1987

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Short: this book is about the drug dealer telling the World how important are the drugs for the welfare in the entire hood.

Long: David Beetham is himself a bureaucrat. His entire living is based on money collected by the State and given to him in many forms: a nice office, a generous wage, an even more interesting pension for which he has nothing more to do than show up and claim it. So Humanity needs Bureaucracy. Of course, he would take a populist approach and admit there are some things to straighten out, but a world without Bureaucracy would mean than his brothers in laziness would have to work for their pay. And that is unacceptable.

[Unagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a brief guide of understanding the concept of bureaucracy. I read the Chinese translation edition, and the bibliography is useful.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a bit of disappointment. To me what matters most when reading an academic book is that it can inspire me or intrigue me to look at something familiar in a new way or discover something entirely new. This book will not leave an impression on me.

Having said that, I can't say the book was bad or does not contain good information on the subject of bureaucracy by going into detail on Weberian and marxist views on bureaucracy and suggesting a new theory that encompasses the seemingly hostile theories of Marx and Weber (and their followers) and adding a distinctly pro democracy point to the study of bureaucracy. I must admit that if someone wants to have an excellent summary of mentioned views on bureaucracy the book does deliver, I particularly liked the inclusion of the historical and social context in which the views on bureaucracy originated.

The goal of the book was three folded, at one hand presenting an overview of the two dominant theories and their internal variations, presenting a new point of view that surpasses while acknowledging the merits of older views and finally a way to combat the more negative aspects of bureaucracies (in particular in relation to failing parliamentary democracy) while dispelling common faulty assumptions on the nature and relations between said institutions.

If you are planning to write something on any form of bureaucracy it should be in your bibliography but otherwise it is not that interesting or worthwhile.