THE BASIC HYPOTHESIS OF THE ELEMENTARY THEORY OF BUREAUCRACY

Abstract

The article attempts to substantiate the relationship between the design of the traditional bureaucratic administrativeapparatus, its role as an indispensable tool of public administration and at the same time the tendency to generate dysfunctions,transformation into pseudo-administrative structures, ruinous for the state and society. It is suggested that the features of thebureaucracy are due to its specific structural role: having no formal right to develop and make political decisions, it is the main‘administrative resource', without property, it is included in the management of the main resource assets of the state. Unlikepolitical actors, the population, business entities, bureaucracy has no direct interest in the processes and results of their relationswith each other: it focuses on the performance of administrative functions. However, this nominally instrumental role of bureaucracycan be supported only in a narrow range of conditions, which include: a clear distinction between political and administrative roles,clarity of goals and objectives of the state, openness of decision-making and management processes, the presence of effectiveethical regulators of officials' work, perfect system of their material and non-material motivation, and many others. Insufficientattention to these factors leads to the fact that the administrative apparatus by default expands its powers, refocuses externaltasks to its own needs, attracting available public and private resources to achieve them. This established solidary interest of theprofessional community, its propensity to social self-isolation and even the acquisition of domestic ‘sovereignty' leads to thetransformation of a working administrative apparatus into a Bureaucracy in the negative sense of this word. At the same time,there are reasons to recognize this destructive process as natural: in the absence of other incentives, people and the communityfocus on personal/group needs.