The Politics–Bureaucracy Interface in Developing Countries
| Published date | 01 October 2017 |
| Date | 01 October 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1793 |
THE POLITICS–BUREAUCRACY INTERFACE IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
NIHEER DASANDI
1
AND MARC ESTEVE
2,3
*
1
University of Birmingham, UK
2
University College London, UK
3
ESADE Business School, Spain
SUMMARY
The political–bureaucratic interface has been the subject of much academic interest. However, research has tended to focus
exclusivelyon wealthy institutionalizeddemocracies, with little attentiongiven to the political–administrative relationshipin devel-
oping countries.However, recent evidencefrom reform processes in poorernations increasingly highlightsthe importance of inter-
actions betweenpoliticians and bureaucrats.This paper provides a systematicoverview of the political–bureaucratic relationshipin
developingcountries and in doing so makes twokey contributions. First, itintroduces a typology of political–bureaucraticrelations
basedonfourmodels—collaborative, collusive, intrusive, and integrated—discussing examples of each. Second, it analyses the
main factors associated with different models of political–bureaucratic relations and considers how countries can move from one
model of relationsto another. The paper providesa much-needed entry point forscholars and policymakers tobetter understanding
the relationshipbetween politicians and bureaucrats in developing countries.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words—political–bureaucratic relations; systematic overview; governance; administrative relations
INTRODUCTION
The political–bureaucratic interface has been the subject of much academic interest and debate going back to
Woodrow Wilson’s work on the characteristics of political and administrative spheres in 1887 (Peters and Pierre
2001; Svara 2006; Peters 2010; Overeem 2012; Jacobsen 2006). This debate centers on the respective roles of pol-
iticians and administrators in the policy process and the nature of the relationship between them. It has significant
practical implications for policymaking, and as such, continues to fuel academic interest (Demir and Nyhan 2008;
Georgiou 2014).
1
Yet studies on the politics–bureaucracy relationship have tended to focus almost exclusively on
wealthy institutionalized democracies (Gulrajani and Moloney 2012). Despite the importance of the politics–
bureaucracy relation for policymaking, there has been very little attention given to the relationship between politi-
cians and top bureaucrats in developing countries, and how this relationship might shape the development process.
This can be seen in Georgiou’s (2014) recent “Atlas of the Politics–Administration Dichotomy,”which provides a
review of the literature on the topic, and in doing so highlights the lack of attention given to the politics–
bureaucracy relationship in developing countries.
Recent studies have highlighted the importance of the politics–bureaucracy interface in the development pro-
cess. A growing literature considers the process of reform in developing countries, pointing to the importance of
political–bureaucratic interactions in reform processes (Tendler 1997; Grindle 2004; Melo et al. 2012; Andrews
2013; Levy 2014). This research highlights the extent to which the politics–bureaucracy relationship in many de-
veloping countries differs from the Weberian ideal. Furthermore, it points to the substantial differences in the
*Correspondence to: M. E., Department of Political Science/School of Public Policy, University College London, 29-31 Tavistock Square,
London WC1H 9QU, UK. E-mail: marc.esteve@ucl.ac.uk
1
“Bureaucrat”in this paper refers to non‐elective government officials involved in government administration and is used interchangeably with
“administrator”and “civil servant.”
public administration and development
Public Admin. Dev. 37, 231–245 (2017)
Published online 9 March 2017 in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pad.1793
Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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