The Role of Bureaucracy and Regime Types

Abstract

The objective is to assess the validity of one general proposition that has been central to much of the thinking and theorizing among students of comparative public administration. It is that the political roles ofpublic bureaucracies vary systematically with the regime types. This proposition is examined in the context of two disparate political systems; Korea and Turkey. The data are derived from personal interviews conducted with 232 Turkish and 225 Korean civil servants of the highest ranks. The analysis focuses on three aspects of the bureaucracy: its policy-making role, its accountability to the public, and the character of its professional norms. The evidence lends no support for the proposition and thereby raises some questions about its validity.