Is bureaucracy logical for democracy?

Ehab Badwi
4 min readMay 24, 2019

Before addressing the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy, it is necessary to clarify both the concept of bureaucracy and democracy, For bureaucracy, the beginning of this definition was in the early 19th century, referring to a type of administration consisting of a chain of authority, each with a specific functional specialization, crowded with non-elected officials who followed specific and sometimes complex procedures.

This definition was of little relevance until Max Weber’s book, which was described in more detail, was published. A concept of great significance in the context of globalization, to the extent to which Western democracies operate through some kind of bureaucratic system.

The basic criticism of the bureaucracy is that these officials often have permanent power centers and are not elected. In addition, the more governments shape themselves in the corporate pattern, the more likely bureaucracies are to perform like business than government performance.

Thus, the concept of bureaucracy is “a political concept with two sides, either expressing the rationality and objectivity which aim at achieving the ideal organization that would facilitate the affairs of citizens, or be in the light of power and power and reflect the routine and slow procedures and control of society. “

As for the concept of democracy, it is the Greek word of origin, meaning the government of the people, or the authority of the people. The people in the democratic sense govern themselves, which is the source of authority in the state. It is the one who chooses the government, the form of government and the prevailing political, economic and social systems. Is the basis of the rule, the basis of the authorities of the State, the source of the law to which the State is subject.

The relationship between bureaucracy and democracy lies in the increase in bureaucratic regulation and its increased effectiveness in society. Many thinkers and researchers have stimulated the study of the relationship between bureaucracy and democracy.

Max Weber believes that there is a kind of complementarity and interaction between bureaucracy and democracy because bureaucracy stems from the concentration of power in the hands of a few officials and limits the freedom of individuals that are the origin and the cornerstone of democracy, he sees bureaucracy as a danger to democratic freedoms, but at the same time performs important functions in a democratic society that can not be ignored when the bureaucracy is integrated with democracy in the right direction.

Weber concludes that democracy can not continue unless it is linked to bureaucracy, the bureaucracy can not achieve full equality of jobs and staff, but, as they have been a key factor in reducing the importance of individual social status, such as origin and color, this will strengthen democracy in institutions.

If equality before the law is one of the basic principles of democracy and this means not to differentiate between one person and another for any consideration, the equality of all before the law is one of the basic pillars of bureaucratic organization as well.

According to Weber, democratic goals are impossible to achieve in modern society unless bureaucratic organizations put them into practice.

If the bureaucracy in Max Weber was an aid to democracy, others saw it as a negative phenomenon and a means used by capitalism to consolidate its control.

Karl Marx was at the forefront of these thinkers: “The capitalist state apparatus transforms state goals into office goals, turning office goals into state goals, and make the bureaucracy of its formal objectives guaranteed, and for that it contradicts the real goals ».

Marx then concluded that the bureaucratic apparatus was becoming an instrument of power exercised by monopolies in the interest of the masses.

His activity gradually turns into an end in itself, and the goal of the state, Marx says, “ has become a special goal of seeking higher positions and better positions.” Within this bureaucratic apparatus, there is an autonomous movement that has no real connection to the needs of society. Thus, the separation between the state as a bureaucratic apparatus working for the capitalist class and the rest of the masses is realized.

In conclusion, it can be said from the foregoing that the need of the modern and contemporary society to organize bureaucracy carries with it preliminaries to eliminate democracy and thus impede the course of development of society. It is necessary to find the appropriate democratic means to control the bureaucracy and turn these means into factors conducive to the effectiveness of democracy. The bureaucratic framework, thus balancing the requirements of bureaucracy and democracy. As the study of the bureaucracy and its impact on the progress and future of countries, it is necessary to know how to control and guide them to integrate with real democracy and change the concept of bureaucracy to the concept of changing work with the variables of modernity, where a creative and positive society is created to serve the requirements of democratic life and society to the better.

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