Civil Bureaucracy Research Articles

Bureaucrats and the Senegalese Political Process

While independence in West Africa focused academic attention on political parties, the proliferation of military régimes in the late 1960s– by 1970, seven West African countries had experienced military rule — brought two other institutions into prominence: the military and civil bureaucracies. This article seeks to throw some light on the place of the civil bureaucracy in Senegal through a study of the role of bureaucrats in the country's political process.

Bureaucratic Development and the Structure of Decision-making in Japan: 1868–1925

One of the major problems facing modern Japanese historians is that of providing adequate explanations for the nature and timing of changes in the decision-making structure after 1868. The domination of the decision-making process and structure by the civil bureaucracy indicates that bureaucratic development was a major factor in determining such changes. The civil bureaucracy underwent two dramatic changes in the period after 1868. The first occurred in the years 1868–78 and resulted in the integration, centralization and specialization of the bureaucratic structure. This was confirmed by an analysis of all increases and decreases in operations at the prefectural level—the level at which integration had been critical. The second major change occurred between 1884—1889 as the result of a series of reforms aimed at rationalizing the bureaucratic role. Analysis of the backgrounds and careers of a 25% random sample of all prefectural governors between 1868–1945 clearly indicates that by 1900 the norms of the bureaucratic role had changed drastically. From a role based on extra-bureaucratic norms—participation in the Restoration, possession of some Western knowledge and membership in the traditional elite—the “new” bureaucratic role was characterized by predominantly “legal-rational” norms. These changes had a number of consequences for the decisionmaking structure: 1) the centralization, integration and specialization of the bureaucracy placed decision-making in the hands of a small number of bureaucratic leaders thus laying the foundation for the oligarchic (genro) structure which now emerged. Decision-making roles were thus allocated on the same extra-bureaucratic criteria as upper civil service roles; 2) rationalization of the bureaucratic role undermined and finally eliminated the genro structure through elimination of the norms for selecting genro members. The resulting vacuum was filled by contention and conflict between the bureaucracy and the political parties both claiming legitimacy in the selection and allocation of decision-making roles. The result was a system of allocating decision-making roles which was informal, ambiguous and highly particularistic. The result was the instability of decision-making which characterized the post-1925 period. The hypothesis that bureaucratic development was a major factor in determining change in the decision-making structure thus appears to be confirmed.

Twenty Years of the Civil Service of Pakistan: A Reevaluation

In the already extensive literature on Pakistan's civil bureaucracy, over the last twenty years the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) has received more attention than all the other parts of the bureaucracy together. Even though CSP personnel constitute only 0.07% of the country's total bureaucratic population, it is not at all surprising that they have been the subject of academic attention over such a long period. There are three main reasons for this. First, the CSP is one of the heirs of the famous Indian Civil Service (ICS) created by the British and considered to be the steel frame of Britain's administration in India.' Second, of the two successor services, the Indian Administrative Service and Civil Service of Pakistan, only the latter has continued to work as a real elite group; the former has surrendered a substantial part of the power it inherited to its new political bosses. Long after independence, the members of the CSP continue to hold key positions in all tiers of government, exercising an influence far disproportionate to their numbers.2 Third, in a rapidly changing environ

Ch'ing Government and the Mineral Industries Before 1800

There were mines and smelters located in all the provinces of Ch'ing China before the nineteenth century. Their sizes varied greatly, as did their role in the local as well as national economy. Government policy regarding these industries was not based on a uniform code, but rather reflected a body of principles that served as guidelines for coping with each individual situation as it arose. Indeed, reading the early Ch'ing documents on mining leaves one at first with the impression that the authorities were eternally debating over the question, “to mine or not to mine.” Upon closer examination it soon becomes clear, however, that “mining affairs” were far from being administered along haphazard lines. It is the intention of this paper to describe some of the basic factors that went into the making of government decisions regarding mineral enterprises. In doing this, it would be helpful to keep these questions in mind: how did the mineral industries fit into the general framework of an agrarian-based civil bureaucracy? In the application of policy, did the government invariably let its actions be determined by a priori conceptions, or did it base decisions on pragmatic grounds? What sort of relation was generally accepted as the norm between the government and the operators of the enterprises in the instances where government interest was manifest?

Bureaucratic Transition in Morocco

A recent excellent study of the political aspects of Middle Eastern social change1 analyzes four principal instruments of political modernization: the army, the political party, the trade union, and finally, the civil bureaucracy. It is significant that the last-named instrument receives far less attention than the others, not because it is less important, but simply because the bureaucratic-administrative aspect of political development has been relatively neglected by Western analysts. Although another recent publication2 clearly recognizes this lack, not just in the Middle East but in the whole field of developing nations, and does a good deal to alleviate it, the fact remains that bureaucracy as an instrument of modernization has not been a favored focus for analysis. In the Middle East, where bureaucracy's role in modernization and social change has been of vital importance, only Morroe Berger among sociologists has chosen this traditional sociological field as a vehicle for his research.3 It is no...

Civil Congregations of the Indians in New Spain, 1598-1606

One consistent strand of Hispanic imperial policy was the repeated attempt to civilize the native Indians by urbanizing them.1 Plans to this end were early announced and with varying results were tried from time to time throughout the colonial empire.2 The program of civil congregations in New Spain from 1598 to 1605 was a relatively late example of these persistent efforts to translate the ideal of urbanization into social fact. Administratively the project differed from previous attempts in the area. Appointees of the viceroy rather than ecclesiastics or encomenderos were selected as the agents to perform the chore. It was an enterprise of the civil bureaucracy, and was patterned on an earlier (1569-1571) plan which had proved workable in Peru under the famed Viceroy Francisco de Toledo.3 He had reorganized or created native hamlets according to a standard plan.4 The object there, as in New Spain a generation later, was