Politics, Bureaucratic Corruption, and Maladministration in the Third World
| Date | 01 March 1985 |
| Author | Kempe Ronald Hope |
| Published date | 01 March 1985 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085238505100101 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Politics,
Bureaucratic
Corruption,
and
Maladministration
in
the
Third
World
UDC :
323.37:35-083.94
by
Kempe
Ronald
HOPE,
Fulbright
Professor,
Faculty
of
Social
Sciences,
University
of
the
West
Indies,
Mona,
Jamaica
INTRODUCTION
The
machinery
of
administration
for
na-
tional
development
in
the
Third
World
was
shaped
primarily
by
the
colonial
authorities
during
the
period
of
colonial
rule.
With
the
achievement
of
internal
self-government
and,
subsequently,
political
independence,
de-
cision-making
and
executive
authority
in
the
Third
World
was
transferred
from
the
colonial
authorities
to
local
politicians,
serving
as
gov-
ernment
ministers,
who
sought
to
politicize
the
bureaucracy.
This
paper
examines
the
relationship
between
the
political
directorate
and
political
activity,
on
the
one
hand,
and
the
corrupt,
.bureaucratic
maladministration
of
national
development,
on
the
other,
in
the
Third
World.
THE
FUSION
OF
POLITICS
AND
ADMIN-
ISTRATION
IN
THE
THIRD
WORLD
A
politicized
bureaucracy
can
be
defined
as
one
which
is
involved,
or
influences,
or
is
influenced
to
any
degree,
consciously
or
unconsciously,
by
overt
or
implicit
actions
in
the
stream
of
the
politics
of
the
day,
whether
of
the
party
in
power
or
of
the
party
or
parties
in
opposition.
Such
an
involvement
may
en-
tail
the
bureaucratic
promotion
of
special
in-
terests
of
the
political
party
at
the
expense
of
national
objectives.
In
a
more
extended
form
it
may
also
be
regarded
as
a
type
of
bureau-
cracy
which
uses
political
parties
in
furtherance
of
their
collective
or
individual
objectives
or
which
is
used
by
political
parties
in
the
achieve-
ment
of
party
objectives
(1).
There
are
four
primary
variables
that
can
be
used
to
measure
the
involvement
of
a
bureau-
cracy
in
politics.
These
are
(1)
the
degree
of
influence
that
the
bureaucracy
exercises
in
the
decision-making
process
and
the
nature
of
the
relationship
between
the
political
and
the
per-
manent
members
of
the
executive
and
the
extent
of
their
interaction;
(2)
the
degree
of
involvement
of
the
bureaucracy
in
politics
and
party
activities;
(3)
the
extent
of
political
and
party
interference
in
the
work
of
the
bureau-
cracy ;
and
(4)
the
popular
image
of
the
civil
service
(2).
With
the
achievement
of
political
independ-
ence
in
most
of
the
Third
World,
the
bureau-
cratic
colonial
administration
was
transformed
into
a
bureaucratic
administration
that
em-
phasized
the
sovereignty
of
politics
rather
than
the
supremacy
of
administration
(3).
This
was
accomplished
partially
through
the
stress-
ing
of
political
dominance.
The
saliency
of
political
dominance
over
bureaucratic
values
created
a
style
of
administrative
behaviour
that
is
highly
politicized
despite
the
formal
acceptance
of
a career
system
of
administration
based
on
a
high
degree
of
professionalism.
As
such,
the
political
dimensions,
to
what
in
other
countries
would
be
routine
decisions,
give
the
bureaucracy
a
highly
political
flavour.
Moreover,
Third
World
governments
seem
to
clearly
prefer
a
politically
committed
civil
ser=
vice.
One
government
minister
is
quoted
as
having
said
that &dquo;
Colonialists
left
a
myth
that
public
servants
should
be
apolitical
and
should
not
be
involved
in
politics.
This
was
a
bit
dishonest
because
it
was
only
during
the
transi-
tion
to
independence
that
the
civil
servant
was
removed
from
the
political
scene&dquo;
(4).
Politics
then
has
become
the
most
im-
portant
activity
and
the
politician
(minister)
(1)
R.B.
Jain,
"
Politicization
of
Bureaucracy:
A
Framework
for
Comparative
Management ",
Indian
Journal
of
Public
Administration,
Vol.
20,
October-
December
1974,
pp.
796-797.
(2)
Ibid.
(3)
See
Kempe
Ronald
Hope,
" The
Administration
of
Development
in
Emergent
Nations:
The
Prob-
lems
in
the
Caribbean
",
Public
Administration
and
Development,
No. 3,
January-March
1983,
pp.
49-59.
(4)
Quoted
in
G.E.
Mills,
"
Public
Administration
and
Change
in
a
Small
Developing
State:
Jamaica "
in
Public
Administration
in
Developing
Countries,
International
Conference
on
the
Future
of
Public
Administration,
Canada,
May
1979,
p.
16.
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