The Weaknesses of Bureaucracies in Foreign Policy

There is a plethora of criticisms about the effectiveness of the Bureaucracy. Even during the 19th century, as Wilson writes, the Post Office “was an organization marred by inefficiency and corruption”. With an appointment standard such as the “spoils system”, where individuals or groups are granted high level positions based on political favors alone, corruption is almost a certainty. The political aspect of the Bureaucracy was prevalent in the military for over 100 years, as Wilson states “the size and deployment of the military establishment in this country was governed entirely by decisions made by political leaders on political grounds”. Political favors and factors plague our government, including the Bureaucracy. A by-product of these political favors and corruptions are stagnancy and mediocrity. An example of this, as

In his book, Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies do and why they do it, James Q. Wilson’s main objective is to better define the behavior of governmental bureaucracy, believing traditional organizational and economic theory does not adequately explain their actions. Wilson believes that government agencies are doomed to be perceived as inefficient entities by the public. He gives examples of commonly held perceptions of bureaucracies and reveals how these are mostly misconceptions. He points to the environment of bureaucracy, where rules and procedures, dictate goals, along with context, constraints, values, and norms.

The idea of civil service dates back to ancient times. But bureaucracy is modern terms that evolved with the emergence of Public Administration as an academic field. Politics-administration dichotomy is one of the most important factor in the ‘Study of Public Administration’ by Woodrow Wilson in 1887 (Afegbua: 2013). Nature of administration, the extent of work by bureaucracy and many other issues are characterized by the relationship between politics and administration. Bangladesh has experienced different forms of government regime from military autocratic to democratic republic. Before liberation, it experienced government system under British Colonialism and government by Pakistan as it was part of Pakistan earlier. Due to the variation in the forms of government the relations between politics and administration were also different.

For the common American citizen a major concern, as suggested by a recent Gallup poll, centers around the idea that the President, as Chief Executive of the nation, has too much power and influence in the shaping of the United States (Americans' Belief). In particular, there exist a strong belief that the bureaucracy is directly managed by presidential preference (Roff). In contrast, it is a rarely suggested opinion that the President does not have enough power, control, or influence over the bureaucracy. With these two opinions in mind, to what extent does the President have control of the bureaucracy?

Political authority over the bureaucracy is not in one set of hands, but shared among several institutions

The history of the bureaucracy dates back to when our country was first founded. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson set the bar for civil service. Washington knew that the people he appointed would be in important governmental positions, so he had to choose wisely. As time passed the system became more corrupted. Andrew Jackson gave government jobs to those who supported his campaign. After Andrew Jackson, the civil war was fought, therefore

Although some might believe that bureaucrats are always trying to expand their agencies, researches have proved that is not always the case. Instead, they try to validate their position by doing a good job for the people.

Even when all mechanisms are present to make the bureaucracy function cleanly and effectively, if there is a political facilitator who comes from the top level of the bureaucracy, these good systems can be compromised with just a phone call or some marginal note from the high-ranking elected official. Rules will be circumvented, budgets can be siphoned off to favor a project or an ally of the

In its Ethics of Dissent- Managing Guerrilla Government, Rosemary O’Leary provides a sobering description on bureaucratic sabotage in federal government through stories of dissenting public officials named as “guerrillas” or “administrative guerrillas”. Guerrillas are the one who engage in irregular warfare as a member of an independent unit and they are the one who are willing to see the change in the public organizations (pg. 4). Dissatisfaction from the actions of public institutions makes the guerrillas to work against the wishes of superiors or organizational norms either implicitly or explicitly and to make a push back against the management to do what they believe is the right thing which can be termed as “guerrilla government” (p. xi). According to O’Leary majority of the guerrilla governments occur because of the inevitable tension between bureaucracy and democracy that will never go away and they are undetectable because of uninvolving world of bureaucracy (pg. 3, 8). This tension in turn create ethical and management challenges including the harsh realities which all the public servants must learn to steer.

Bureaucrat is a dirty word to some people in modern society, so how can a bureaucracy be a good thing? Many Public Administration theorist, argue that bureaucracy is essential to the growth and expansion of the United States. Most of the criticism of the bureaucracy within the government is based on myth versus reality. Federal agencies play a critical and a valuable role within society and are indispensable to the operations of the federal government. Bureaucracy can be simply defined as the system in which decision are made by Public Administrators rather than elected officials (legislator) within the government. However, when the average citizen of just says the single word bureaucracy thoughts and images of evoked over how negative

The word “bureaucracy” has a negative connotation to many people. The fact is that our current system of government would not be able to survive without bureaucracies. The bureaucracy has become the “fourth branch” of the government, it has quasi-legislative and judicial powers and in it’s own field its authority is rarely challenged. The presence of these large, inefficient structures is necessary if the American people want to continue receiving the benefits that they expect.

Americans depend on government bureaucracies to accomplish most of what we expect from government, and we are oftentimes critical of a bureaucracy’s handling of its responsibilities. Bureaucracy is essential for carrying out the tasks of government. As government bureaucracies grew in the twentieth century, new management techniques sought to promote greater efficiency. The reorganization of the government to create the Department of Homeland Security and the Bush administration’s simultaneous push to contract out jobs to private employers raises the question as to whether the government or the private sector can best manage our national security. Ironically, the criticism of the bureaucracy may be a product

The Development of a country to a large extent depends on how the bureaucracy of that country functions. As bureaucracy gives input in policy making, implements those and evaluate outcome of an implemented policy,

“Bureaucracy is becoming more and more independent and powerful and the rules governing the exercise of that power are not clearly defined; hence bureaucracy poses a threat to the democratic political structure and to the politicians who run it. And yet, a, powerful, independent bureaucracy is also necessary for the prevention of political corruption and for the safe guarding of proper democratic procedures.” Therefore having bureaucracy as party of the democracy it’s the best because it helps to maintain corruption, it’s also helps increasing the economy and social activities, helps with the delivering of services to the people. Examples of everyday bureaucracies include governments, armed forces, corporations, hospitals, courts. The people who

The word Bureau means office and Kracy means usage. So, bureaucracy refers to a form of social organization which is managed by strict rules and regulation and which has a goal of achieving technical superiority over any social organization. But