Political Technocrats versus Bureaucratic Technocrats

• In Event: Poster Session: Experiments in Political Behavior & Public Administration & Canadian Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: The Emerging Issues in the Modern Administrative State

Abstract

That technocrats are important actors the world over is indisputable. Although scholars have defined and written extensively about technocrats, the emphasis on education and high levels of expertise obscures a crucial distinction between types of technocrats. While all technocrats share high levels of education and expertise, scholars have tended to focus on flashy, high-ranking individuals often with foreign degrees who are appointed and come and go with the executive. In this paper, we highlight the importance of insider technocrats (or bureaucratic technocrats or permanent technocrats), who are technocrats or a civil servant, who are recruited meritocratically and whose tenure in the public service does not hinge on political turnover. We argue that this distinction helps explain differences in values, reform styles, and attitudes about public service, politics, and policy. Drawing on interviews, surveys, and administrative data, we illustrate the differences between these two types of technocrats in Brazil and consider the extent to which bureaucratic technocrats are present in other countries as well.

Authors

• Nathan Jordan, Davidson College

• Katherine Bersch, Davidson College