Bureaucracy: Weber'S Or Hammurabi'S? Ideal Or Ancient?

Abstract

This article examines the administrative practices of the Babylonian Empire during the Hammurabi era between 1792 and 1750 B.C. The main thesis is that public administration in the First Babylonian Dynasty had many of the characteristics that Max Weber (1946/1987) identifies for the "ideal type" of modern bureaucracy. The article uses transcripts, some going back to 3800 years ago from the Hammurabi administration and legal documents of that era to demonstrate that Weber's type is more ancient than ideal. The article also draws some attention to similarities between Weber's accountability and that of Hammurabi.