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For a
number of reasons, civil governmental bureaucracies are the most prone to
crippling inefficiencies. To begin with, as part of the sovereign body they
have to do with a broader spectrum of human affairs, considerations, and
responsibilities than other organizations in a society. Their operations are
correspondingly difficult and complex, all the more since political factors are
more directly, forcefully, and continually involved in civil government than in
business and the military services. The civil governmental bureaucracy serves
many purposes besides its critical role in the conduct of human affairs. It is
often bigger than needed for efficient operations because it is used as a base
of political power or patronage by the ruling authority: to award supporters
for past actions and assure their future loyalty, support, noninterference, or
vote. Government bureaucracies constitute an important block of votes in
democracies and a political force in other systems of government that seek
incumbent authority and to perpetuate themselves. Without a limiting force,
governmental bureaucracies continue to grow simply because many people prefer employment
that is relatively permanent and undemanding. Bureaucracies are also a form of
protection against political replacement and the rapid and disconcerting change
that is more likely to occur in other elements of the society. There is little
motivation for organizational and individual improvement because there are few
incentives to advance. Promotion correlates closely with the length of
satisfactory service. The status quo is the desirable state of affairs.
Whistleblowers are discouraged, disregarded as malcontents, or penalized as
disloyal and untrustworthy. These are common characteristics of governmental
bureaucracies as a whole, not indictments of those individuals within them who
perform with professional competence and conscientiousness.
In some
countries bureaucracies are a way of providing "full employment" if
this is the political policy or constitutional requirement. The Soviet Union
and East Germany, before the
dissolution of one and reunification of the other with West Germany, revealed the vast
size and stagnant incompetence that can be attained by governmental bureaucra
cies. Their employees considered their jobs permanent and immune to challenge
or change. Since the constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees full employment,
the government absorbs what the industrial and service sectors cannot. And in
all three nations, the policy of overcentralized planning created oversize
bureaucracies in a vain attempt to plan and direct industrial production and
all other basic societal activities from their capitols: Moscow,
East Berlin, and Beijing.
For a
number of reasons, civil governmental bureaucracies are the most prone to
crippling inefficiencies. To begin with, as part of the sovereign body they
have to do with a broader spectrum of human affairs, considerations, and
responsibilities than other organizations in a society. Their operations are
correspondingly difficult and complex, all the more since political factors are
more directly, forcefully, and continually involved in civil government than in
business and the military services. The civil governmental bureaucracy serves
many purposes besides its critical role in the conduct of human affairs. It is
often bigger than needed for efficient operations because it is used as a base
of political power or patronage by the ruling authority: to award supporters
for past actions and assure their future loyalty, support, noninterference, or
vote. Government bureaucracies constitute an important block of votes in
democracies and a political force in other systems of government that seek
incumbent authority and to perpetuate themselves. Without a limiting force,
governmental bureaucracies continue to grow simply because many people prefer employment
that is relatively permanent and undemanding. Bureaucracies are also a form of
protection against political replacement and the rapid and disconcerting change
that is more likely to occur in other elements of the society. There is little
motivation for organizational and individual improvement because there are few
incentives to advance. Promotion correlates closely with the length of
satisfactory service. The status quo is the desirable state of affairs.
Whistleblowers are discouraged, disregarded as malcontents, or penalized as
disloyal and untrustworthy. These are common characteristics of governmental
bureaucracies as a whole, not indictments of those individuals within them who
perform with professional competence and conscientiousness.
In some
countries bureaucracies are a way of providing "full employment" if
this is the political policy or constitutional requirement. The Soviet Union
and East Germany, before the
dissolution of one and reunification of the other with West Germany, revealed the vast
size and stagnant incompetence that can be attained by governmental bureaucra
cies. Their employees considered their jobs permanent and immune to challenge
or change. Since the constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees full employment,
the government absorbs what the industrial and service sectors cannot. And in
all three nations, the policy of overcentralized planning created oversize
bureaucracies in a vain attempt to plan and direct industrial production and
all other basic societal activities from their capitols: Moscow,
East Berlin, and Beijing.
