Public administration and conflict management in plural societies: the case for representative bureaucracy

Abstract

Public administration affects the management of ethnic conflict by (1) the criteria employed in recruitment to state bureaucracies and (2) policies and practices that determine the distribution of the benefits and costs of government among members of competing ethnic communities. The goals pursued by mobilized ethnic communities include domination, secession, integration, power-sharing and minority rights, each of which is implemented by state-sanctioned policies and practices. Recent experience with civil and military bureaucracies in India and South Africa, two highly pluralistic and conflict-prone societies, suggests that ethnically representative bureaucracy, though by no means trouble-free, contributes to the legitimacy of government by demonstrating that members of all ethnic communities can and actually do participate in the administration of public affairs. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.