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Modern theories of Bureaucracy, government and policy making

Pluralism / pluralist model;
Power is dispersed throughout society
Individuals combine/organize themselves into groups. these organized groups strive to further
the interests of their members.
Public policy is the outcome of accommodation between these competing interests
State is an umpire (neutral referee)
Policy Community: The process in any policy field through which state and non-state actors
interact in order to shape a given policy
Bureaucrats tend to articulate the interests of their respective clients
Bureaucracy in a pluralistic state:
Each government organization pursues its own institutional interests
This process is also evident among units within each department or agency
organizational decision making will eventually emerge from interplay of senior bureaucrats and
political leaders making choice among contending forces but leaders attempt to serve the
interests of their respective home institutions.
In these interactions, certain actors are powerful than the rest due to the certain factors
such as
the size, institutional reputation, historical role and responsibility, financial and personnel
strengths of institutions, capacity of managers to strike an operational coalition with others in
order to advance their respective institutional interests
Governmental overload: excessive demands and lack of resources to satisfy these demands
lead to legitimacy crisis and slowing down of economic growth. triggering a trend toward
downsizing public sector
Implications for democracy:
disregarding unequal distribution of resources among groups
Public Choice Theory: Main assumptions
Politics is a bargaining process in which both authorities and voters act in a rational selfinterested fashion to maximize their utility that is material interest
Similar patterns of rational self-serving bargaining process also goes on between authorities and
bureaucracy, between authorities and pressure groups.
Public trust, public interest and national interest are concepts which are used to conceal their
baser human instincts.
Evaluation of public choice;
Deeply rooted self-interest turns the concept of public interest on its head which is a central
element of public choice theory that has received most criticisms
oversimplified human psychology and behavior
due to this oversimplification, it has a poor predictive capacity,
ignoring the human tendency for altruism and cooperation.

Technocratic Theory:
rule by technocrats and experts
Managerial revolution--------- change in class rule
Technocrats in both public and privates sectors exert enormous influence on public policy.
Explanations for rule by technocrats:
Increasing government intervention
increased complexity of government tasks
Expertise
Information
Time and number
Decline of parliamentary power
Ministerial turnover
Corporatism:
Institutional arrangements under which major public policies are worked out through state and
leadership of a limited number of business and corporate organizations( business and labour
unions) of major industrial and labour organizations
Historical development: is strong in Europe and weak in North America
types of corporatism;
State corporatism------ state dominates corporate organizations
Societal .liberal corporatism ------ organizations are independent and engage in voluntary
cooperation in order to shape public policy
Statism: state-centred approach to public policy making process
The state is largely autonomous from societal forces.
Bureaucratic agencies are insulated from influence of private interests
State authorities design their policy to fulfill their vision of public interest.
Constant attempts to enhance their autonomy by internal generation of information and
aggrandizing their financial resources.
If necessary state authorities resort to manipulation of information or coercion to sway the
public.
Evaluation:
dismissing the role of agency
Public interest might end up to be a mystified private interest