Bureaucratic Politics: A Paradigm and Some Policy Implications

Studying Hybrids: Sectors and Mechanisms

“…2 Interdepartmental and inter-agency competition is the inevitable consequence. To what extent does such market-type behaviour have a similar performance-improving effect as competition supposedly has on a free commodity market, and to what extent does it result in self-paralysing internal conflict, goal deflection in the form of 'bureaucratic politics' (Allison & Halperin, 1972) or even 'bureaucratic sabotage' (Brecht, 1937), are open empirical questions. What is certain, however, is that interdepartmental and inter-agency competition and rivalry within the hierarchical environment of public bureaucracies represent a latent type of hybridity that results in manifest leadership challenges.…”

Military in politics and budgetary allocations

“…We do not neglect other important reasons for arming, but accept that the military has good motives for acquiring more resources, from rent seeking to the pursue of status and prestige of the armed forces within a society. In particular, as Allison & Halperin (1972) put it, career officials believe that the health of their organization is vital to the national interest and depends on securing the necessary capabilities, leading to attempts to maintain or increase the budget. This is particularly relevant since the end of the WWII, when the increasing sophistication of military capabilities has made the guidance of military officials essential to policymakers.…”

Organizational Decision Making

“…Additionally, numerous behavioral modifications to the key concepts of classical theory were developed: (1) division of labor -consideration of the effects of fatigue and monotony caused by specialization; the "cog-in-the-machine" feeling of isolation, anonymity and insignificance; the problems of motivation, coordination and leadership in management; (2) arrives at his conclusion. The cybernetic approach offers an 2 6 alternative description of the process:…”

“…The role of information in organizational decisionmaking in the split-axis system assumes the validity of the 88 following assumption: Associated with any environmental problem which generates a decision situation for the organization are two types of information: (1) instrumental information ; and (2) organizational information . Instrumental information is simply the rational or technical information associated with the problem, i.e., the "internal" facts of the problem.…”