In defence of bureaucracy: Governance and public values in a digital age

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.