Bureaucracy: Points to ponder

The survival of France in times of great national instability is attributed to unflinching stance of the bureaucrats. National development in many developed countries has been either spearheaded or supplemented by the bureaucratic institutions. Though political institutions were fairly competent, bureaucrats had always the edge to manipulate state activities therein. But their interference hardly collided with national interest. While bureaucracies are in constant aid of the political institutions in the developed states, the responsibilities of bureaucracies multiply in the developing countries because of premature political culture and lack of awareness among the masses.

The bureaucrats of a country are supposed to furnish values and ethics to the whole society but the nature of their work ethics presents too dismal a picture. Value-orientation and mindset of the bureaucrats of the developing countries seem to have been severely stunted and tantamount to sort of a bankruptcy. The downtrodden of the developing states have every right to look up to the mandarins for change as well as betterment of their lot. Millions in these countries are struggling hard to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Not to speak of relative or absolute poverty, hard core poverty still encircles majority of them. 'Less than one dollar per day' is still the trademark for many. Did the bureaucrats live up to the expectation?

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Introduction of merit based recruitment was indeed a milestone in the administrative arena. However, this golden rule did never experience an easy sailing. It received firm footing even in the cradles of democracy only towards the end of the 18th century. Merit system must have counteracted many maladies caused by spoils and patronage systems but sort of redefinition of merit was also not to be downplayed. Necessary considerations for 'unbalanced development' and 'disadvantaged sections of the society' called for such redefinition. Hence, positive discrimination or affirmative action has been adopted by the civilized societies to promote the deprived groups and give bureaucracy more of a representative look. However the term is redefined, it is always a coveted qualification and has proved to be consistently creditable.

Merit alone has, however, not been proved to be a panacea for all administrative ills. If meritorious people remain resolute and defy the temptations consistently, the ones that try to entice them will find things difficult. The downward trend in the values of the bureaucrats alludes to the fact that they are lacking in the required amount of commitment expected of them. Rather, they tend to succumb to slightest of temptations. The problem might be aggravated in that meritorious yet unscrupulous persons may become evil geniuses. In fact, this truth applies not only to bureaucrats but to every segment of a society.

To cope with the increasing problem of morality, rethinking as to the present emphasis on merit may be seriously considered. The present emphasis on merit, thus, must give way to equal emphasis on merit and morals. Even the 'positive vetting' mechanism, to my mind, may be tried while recruiting candidates to public services as well as other responsible jobs. Phenomena such as family background, track record of behavior patterns, moral character, innate propensities of the candidates might be given due importance along with academic excellence and psychological aptitudes.

Bureaucracies around the world especially in the developed states are facing constant threat of job insecurity in the wake of New Public Management, Reinventing Government and such other cost-cutting and efficiency based phenomena. During the last three decades, the world has experienced drastic changes in terms of bureaucratic service delivery and responsiveness towards the people. Almost all the developed democracies have gone for massive overhauling of their administrations with a view to making them more efficient, more effective, more cost-effective and, more importantly, more responsive towards the citizens.

Bangladesh gained independence more than three decades ago. But our bureaucrats still remain obsessed with colonial past and their orientation shows no signs of change whatsoever. In Bangladesh, almost everything seems to have changed with the passage of time but the bureaucrats are rock solid in resistance. Sustenance of status quo is the most discernible aspect of our bureaucratic culture. Political unwillingness on the parts of successive governments is also to blame for this inertia. It seems to be a happy compromise between the politicians and the bureaucrats for mutual gains. However, coercive measures are very unlikely to do good to reorient them towards the people. Because they, as has been demonstrated for the last 34 years, are matured and smart enough to resist such measures. Having said so, I don't think that they would be able to withstand long the worldwide trends of bureaucratic reorientation.

Kazi S.M.Khasrul Alam Quddusi is Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong.