Organizational Reform and Changing Ethics in Public Administration: A Case Study on 18th Century Dutch Tax Collecting

Abstract

Although ethics underlying public administration obviously changes over time, it remains largely unknown just how, when, or why this happens. This article presents a study on organizational reform in the system of taxation in Holland around 1748. Comparative use of Max Weber's characteristics of bureaucratization provides a historical perspective on the link between organizational reform and ethical change in public tax administration and also sheds light on other contemporary issues in public management, such as a public—private distinction and the legitimacy of public administration. The case addresses important theoretical questions as well. Do organizations change existing (ethical) ideas or is it actually the other way around? How much do time and sequencing matter when explaining such historical processes? How much strategic action is involved in designing new institutions? I argue how an eclectic institutionalist approach is necessary to answer such questions in general and to increase our understanding of organizational reform in relation to changing ethics in particular, bringing into perspective all too straightforward causal links between the two.