Varieties of Bureaucracy: Rethinking the State’s Role in Development

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Bureaucracy in the Global South

Abstract

Comparative political economy research highlights the importance of formal-legal institutions and autonomous Weberian bureaucracies for development. Yet, many developing countries have weak bureaucratic institutions that vary widely from the Weberian ideal, and while some perform poorly, others manage to achieve notable results. How can we make sense of the puzzling variation in state performance? This paper critically reviews recent studies from different regional settings (Latin America, Africa and South Asia) investigating the state’s role in development. These studies, I argue, mark a major shift in our understanding of bureaucracy and challenge conventional thinking in several ways. First, in contrast to prior research focused on bureaucracy’s relationship to economic growth, these studies engage a wider spectrum of governmental functions, including regulation, environmental management, public health and social protection, which yields a fine-grained view of state capacity. Second, they use comparative field research to identify not only formal features of bureaucratic institutions but also their informal norms, power relations and ordinary practices. Third, they highlight the porousness of the state to various non-state actors and offer a textured understanding of how states and societies influence and constitute each other. In sum, recent studies theorize the varieties of bureaucracy that can obtain, which in turn helps explain differences in state performance within and between countries. I end by considering new puzzles, questions and methodological issues these studies raise for studying the state’s role in development.

Author

• Akshay Mangla, University of Oxford