1. Bureaucracy and Democracy
January 12th, 2005

2. Liberal Democracy and Bureaucracy
confluence
bureaucracy is good in that it emphasis impartiality (over participation)
dissonance
danger is if bureaucracy becomes too powerful and threatens individual rights
“Big Brother”

3. Elite Democracy and Bureaucracy
confluence
top-down and hierarchical nature of bureaucracy is good
effective mechanism to pursue the general welfare
dissonance
danger if bureaucracy becomes too powerful and undermines competition among elected/political elites
e.g. development of a permanent non-elected bureaucratic elite making decisions
ultimately decisions must be ratified by elected elites

4. Participatory Democracy and Bureaucracy
confluence
effective mechanism to pursue the general welfare
e.g. to put into effect the will of the majority
dissonance
top-down hierarchical nature of bureaucracy is bad
excessive focus on impartiality (over participation) is bad

5. Main Messages!! bureaucracy and democracy
relationship with democracy is paradoxical (but in different ways depending on model of democracy)
in tension with all models of democracy
extent of paradox depends on the model of democracy in question
range
bureaucratic model fits well with ideal model of democracy (elite democracy)
bureaucratic model has inherent characteristics that fit with democracy but also poses threat to individual rights (liberal democracy)
bureaucracy is a necessarily evil (participatory democracy)
the paradoxical relationship generates a number of imperatives for each democratic model in designing and managing bureaucracy...