Max Weber and Public Administration
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Do you think that public administrators should be restricted to only lay down rules in the discharge of their duties as espoused by Max Weber or should they have some amount of discretion? Provide the likely benefits and disadvantages of each scenario and use examples to support your argument.
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The expert determines whether they think that public administrators should be restricted to only lay down rules in the discharge of their duties as espoused by Max Weber.
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OK, let me give you a rough outline of an approach here. I gave you three solid sources with different points of view. You can take what you want and leave the rest.
It is easy to argue that bureaucracy should be neutral - that is, they should merely carry out the mandates of the elected politicians who are answerable to the voters. The problem is that the argument is too simple. Bureaucracies are not given detailed instructions as to their every move - discretion is already inherent to the job. This is especially the case where the relevant political bodies are not particularly knowledgeable about the ins and outs of that area of policy. If a legislature lays out general rules in terms of executing law, then it is the administration that must decide the best methods to carry this out. While law is often quite detailed, there is no realistic way to anticipate every case. This is where the seasoned and experienced administration has its role beyond mere execution.
In many states, the development of a 'politicized' bureaucracy has led to disaster. In Africa, for example, the bureaucracies in post-independence states quickly became politicized, leading to poor leadership and weak, if not failing, states (Cox, 1). One of the more important things that Africa scholars have concluded over the decades is that, outside of a professional and politically neutral bureaucracy, the new states in Africa are doomed to fail. Because government service is ...
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