Bureaucracy: The Word Doesn’t Have to Inspire Hatred and Rage

by Apathy is Boring — July 19, 2007

    Now I am not here to defend bureaucracies.  I am not here to give you ammo to defend them next time your drunken uncle goes on a rant.  Everyone knows bureaucracies get a bad rap.  They get shat on in the media, in classrooms, social settings, board meetings, you name the place and you will find bureaucracy inspires rage.  So much undeserved hate goes to these guys and gals, because in actuality they provide a very necessary and useful function in society.  Without them, our country would grind to a halt.  Remember Mulroney bringing in his Public Service 2000 program, under which he ended up adding to the size of the federal bureaucracy instead of reducing it?  If Mulroney, a staunch right-winger, couldn’t cut down the public service, it must serve some sort of purpose indeed!  So let’s tackle the bureaucratic myths and see if the public service should be saved.  This article will look at bureaucracies and examine their function within the Canadian context.  You may find that next time you want to get your “bash” on, that tongue of yours may not be as fiery…

    Now if you are sitting there wondering what a bureaucracy is, the answer is simple.  It is the administrative or functional aspect of a government.  Legislators are the ‘thinkers’ while public servants, or bureaucrats, are the doers.  It is one thing to enact a piece a law, which is inspired by principles and values, but it is another thing to design a functional policy or program.  So when a government passes a law saying it will give free health care to everyone, public servants need to figure out how.  This is why legislation is often worded in very broad or general terms, to give public servants some room or scope to develop action plans.  Bureaucracies are also highly technical, and their workers are the experts.  The world is too complex for MPs to know the ins and outs of every policy area.  Every level of government also has it own bureaucracy, from federal to municipal, to provincial.  They are paid government employees, meaning that yes, you do technically pay their salaries with your taxes, but try and use this fact to order around a government employee at a party and you may get punched in the nose…just a warning.

    Bureaucracies have also been around forever, or as long as the Pyramids that is.  That’s about 5000 years we are talking about.  In ancient Egypt, the King was the supreme head of state.  Under him was the Vizier, who was the head of all of the public service.  It was a grand hierarchical structure and decisions were overseen by the vizier.  Napoleon was also really big on public service and administration and was responsible for bringing the bureaucracy to Germany around 1800.  So bureaucracies are no modern invention, they have been a vital functioning part of the state for centuries. 

    In the Canadian context, we have always had a fairly large public service.  Most public servants don’t work at the federal level though, something people don’t often realize.   One figure from The Canadian Encyclopedia put the division around 14% for the federal public service, 51 % of the public service being provincial and 35 % of the public service being of municipal origin.    In terms of size, the public service in Canada kind of blew up following World War Two when many programs such as universal health care were introduced.  It reached its height in 1992 when public servants represented 23 % of the total Canadian workforce.  Furthermore, the Encyclopedia shows that in 1961, the expenditures of the all three levels of government accounted for 32.5 % of GDP (Gross domestic product) while in 1992 it peaked at 51.3 % of GDP.  That’s a whole lot of government activity and money spent!

    So why do bureaucrats get such a hard rap?  Why all the hate?  Well the fact that the bureaucracy is funded by our tax dollars is the first thing.  Sometimes people just don’t feel they get their bang for their buck.  Normally you will hear this from people who have had much interaction with the government though.  So next time you hear this one, ask them how much their hospital bill will be if they get cracked in the head with a shovel.  That normally ends the argument, or just freaks them out.
   
    A second reason people don’t like the public service is that it is often viewed as being “less efficient” than the private sector or business.  As such, some people believe that business is more effective them governments, and they don’t want to give their taxes over to governments.  The truth is that there are no studies in existence that prove this “efficiency” point, that business can do things better then a bureaucracy.  One of the advantages of governments, and even crown corporations, is that they don’t always have to make a profit.  They don’t have investors to please.  This means that governments will sometimes run at a loss – meaning they are providing a service and the money they are getting in return is not enough to cover the cost of providing this service.  Now this could be considered inefficient to some people.  However, there are advantages to this kind of action for a public.  Say you have a federal or government controlled Gas Company.  If the world price of gas goes up, instead of passing this increase along to consumers, regular people, the government can keep the consumer price the same and absorb the cost of the increase.  In this fashion, people can benefit.  The efficiency argument doesn’t hold much water in my book.  

    We, however, no longer live in times of big governments and big government spending.  The days of Keynes have passed.  What we have now is neo-liberalism and monetarist or classical economics.  This means smaller governments, less government regulation and interference, and a preference for market forces.  No matter what your political stripes are, you cannot debate this fact.  So it is no wonder in this day and age that public service gets pooped on.  Our government as well as business leaders all follow a set of economic principles which preaches for a small bureaucracy, for less government control and interference.  This anti-public service sentiment has to a degree seeped into the media and into the public consciousness, influencing some anti-bureaucratic sentiments. 

    One final “hata” reason worth mentioning is that some people are against bureaucracies due to the amount of power they have in society.  As already mentioned, laws are written with room for interpretation, room for bureaucrats to design workable policies.  People worry that the personal preferences of public servants get involved or that they are being influenced by outside sources.  Given that public servants are not elected, and that fact that some high level bureaucrats make very large salaries (upwards of $1,000,000 even) they often hold a lot of power in their hands.  Stakeholders want access to this power and influence over policies.  So accountability is a big principle to consider here.  It is important to see who is influencing public servants and influencing policy decisions.  Now these complaints, I can understand!

    To really understand the goal of the public service, one has to go all the way back to German political economist and sociologist Max Weber.  Weber has been responsible for much of the early theoretical discussion around the role of the bureaucracy.  He set out all kinds of principles for the design and functioning of a bureaucracy, all based on the principles of rationality.  They may sound kind of dry or even common sense to a certain degree, but it is really interesting to take a look at nonetheless.  Scroll to the link below for more information concerning Weber and his principles surrounding bureaucracy.
   
    The important thing to understand is that the public service is not supposed to be political.  It is a group of experts that design and implement policy.  It is up to the elected politicians to argue about the moral values that underpin government policies.  Public servants are to adhere to the laws as they were written and not deviate from the principles contained within a law.  It is also for this reason that there are a number of central agencies or offices which oversee and co-ordinate the work of the public service.  The Privy Council Office is an example of one of these overseeing bodies. 

    In terms of division of labour, the public service is highly specialized.  In Canada, there are 32 federal ministries.  Each one of these is responsible for its own area, from health care, to fisheries and oceans.  Public servants working within each ministry are highly specialized.  This is needed given the complex world we live in.  Imagine if we trusted our elected MPs to know the specifics and be up to date on literally everything.  The public servants are the much needed specialists who come to the politician’s rescue, to form and implement policies.  At the head of each of these specialized ministries is also an elected minister, as assigned by the PM.  Thus, an elected MP also oversees the activities of a specific ministry, making sure government regulations are in line with the government’s priorities. 

    Still think bureaucracies are that bad?  Of course they have their faults.  Running a large organization is never easy.  Just ask the poor customer service reps at my ISP who get bitched at when my internet goes down.  It’s not their fault, it is just hard coordinating large scale activities.  Just look at how big and diverse Canada is.  That is why we have a division of powers between the federal and provincial governments.  Even then, we can break it down even more into local governments.  Communal or big collaborations pose their problems, but all in all, I believe we in Canada have a pretty good deal when it comes to the public service.  Just like those poor customer service reps, public servants also don’t deserve to get shat on as much as they do.  It is just the consequence of a large system.  When things don’t work like they should, it takes time to adapt new policies.  Bureaucrats fulfill a service for us everyday Canadians, trying to minimize the crap we have to deal with in our everyday lives, from making it easier to visit a doctor to easing the annoyance of renewing your passport.  So try and be friendly – I know the system doesn’t always work as it should, but what does in life?!               

Fun links to check out:

General Information:
http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1SEC817437

Egyptian Bureaucracy:
http://www.civilization.ca/civil/egypt/egcgov3e.html.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/government.htm

Max Weber:
http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/o14f99.htm