The Politics of Bureaucracy after 40 years
| Date | 01 August 2019 |
| Author | B Guy Peters |
| DOI | 10.1177/1369148119866220 |
| Published date | 01 August 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Breakthrough Article |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1369148119866220
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2019, Vol. 21(3) 468 –479
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1369148119866220
journals.sagepub.com/home/bpi
The Politics of
Bureaucracy after 40 years
B Guy Peters
Keywords
administration, breakthrough, bureaucracy, B Guy Peters, Politics of Bureaucracy, public
It is a great honour to have had the Politics of Bureaucracy (PoB) selected as a ‘break-
through’ book by the British Journal of Politics and International Relations. The idea of
selecting important books in political science to have discussed by their authors, and by a
collection of experts in the field, is making a significant contribution to the discipline. It
helps us to understand something of our collective academic and disciplinary history, and
also something about the process through which books are created. What follows is some-
thing of the history of the book, as well as some reflections on why it was written and
what it has become.
The history
All books have a history. This book began in the long, hot summer of 1968 in East
Lansing, Michigan. While riots and demonstrations were breaking out in Chicago, Miami
and around the world, my faculty advisor at Michigan State University and I were often
sitting at his kitchen table trying to write an outline for a book in comparative public
administration. As I will try to point out below, this academic exercise was not an exam-
ple of extreme disengagement from the events of the world, but more an attempt to make
sense of those events.
In the preceding academic quarter, my advisor, John N. Collins, had offered a semi-
nar on comparative public administration. This seminar involved a thorough review of
the existing literature in the field and although the readings were interesting, they were
also disappointing to both of us. That literature was diffuse, largely descriptive and
covered only a limited number of cases. Furthermore, this literature generally was not
comparative but instead tended to examine public administration on a case-by-case
basis. And finally the available literature often tended to forget that the public bureau-
cracy was embedded in a political system and was essential for governing. The public
nature of public administration sometimes became lost in the emphasis on bureaucracy
and administration.
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Corresponding author:
B Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260 USA.
Email: bgpeters@pitt.edu
866220BPI0010.1177/1369148119866220The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsPeters
research-article2019
Breakthrough Article
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