Bureaucratic Approaches to the Bureaucracy: A Conference Report

Abstract

Abstract The “First International Conference on Comparative Historical and Critical Analysis of Bureaucracy” was held October 4-8,1982 near Zurich, Switzerland at the “Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut fur wirtschaftliche und soziale Studien” which is supported by the “Migros Community” — a large Swiss firm that is organized along cooperative lines and, according to its literature, committed to “social responsibility” and “democratic participation” as well as profits. The Institut stages primarily conferences organized by its lone resident scholar and director, Rolf Homann (a leftist sinologist from Germany), and a small staff. Though the Migros presence was minimal, the participants could hardly avoid embourgeoisment from the plush surroundings high above Lake Zurich with an excellent view of the Alps.