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Don't Blame the Bureaucracy!

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

H. Brinton Milward  and
Hal G. Rainey
H. Brinton Milward
Affiliation:
Department of Management, University of Kentucky
Hal G. Rainey
Affiliation:
Department of Public Administration, Florida State University
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Abstract

Public agencies and public employees are increasingly berated as inept and inefficient. We argue that the public bureaucracy in the United States is more valuable and effective than generally recognized. Where public agencies do perform badly, the problem is often due to external factors. We discuss the oversimplified calls for more businesslike efficiency in government, the value complexity which complicates evaluation of the public bureaucracy, and the higher standards imposed on the public sector. We also discuss the challenges imposed on public agencies by special interest politics, an overload of highly complex assignments, and adverse public stereotypes. The danger of overlooking these issues is that we will continue to have a huge, active public sector, and decisions about its role and management must not be determined by oversimplification and stereotype.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , May 1983 , pp. 149 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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