Bureaucracy in ‘modernized policy’ is subject to a strict policy control by the political institutions. According to Fritz M. Marx Present day Western Bureaucracies have grown more multi minded than they were before.
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In turn, they are less capable of staging their own campaigns over general issue of public policies. Activation is likely to be broader only when policy ends impinge on the immediate occupational interests of the career service as a whole.
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The role of public administration in the developed world also varies, according to the natures of the state and its politics. In America, the traditional concept was that administration had no political role.
On the other hand, in USSR, bureaucracy and the political party could hardly be differentiated in terms of their political role. -In European States, administrative system had been explicitly regarded as a distinct wing of the government.
For example, in France bureaucracy has always exercised a dominant political influence from the days of Napoleon onwards. In Britain also, bureaucracy has been more or less recognized for its key and important role in government affairs.
The country which has consistently striven to bureaucratize the state is the People’s Republic of China where in recent years, political role of bureaucracy has been highlighted.
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In America a good administrator is expected to find out what the law making authority had in mind while enacting the legislation so that he can faithfully and completely achieve the objectives of that law.
He is likely to face a situation in which in the state requires a particular course of action that the appropriations do not permit or the present political executive does not want a specific thing which was wanted and included in the legislation made by him.
In such a predicament, the administrative system as a whole comes under sharp criticism from the public, the Congress and the Chief Executive.
According to Hyneman, “We have not worked out any firm body of theory as to what the administrative official ought not to take advantage of confusion and uncertainty in the law to institute a programme of government activity for which he can find no basis in legislative expression but when Congress and President have overruled him by enactment of the law (or by failure to repeal or revise law to which he objects).
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The administrative official who is also a political leader, according to my political theory, has neither moral nor legal right further to oppose or sabotage the achievement of the purpose toward which the law is directed.
If his conscience forbids him to be a part of a government undertaking of which he does not approve, or if he thinks that his further political ambitions will be endangered by staying where he is, he can get out of his post by resignation”.
Bureaucracy in all developed constitutional democracies faces almost similar predicaments, which often hamper the effectiveness of their role and their status.
Bureaucracy in America functions amidst hectic interest group activity. Interest Groups (or pressure groups, as they are called in America) are highly organized in this country and they represent different sections of the community.
Pressure groups are well spread over industry, consumers and those sections of the public who are either not adequately represented in the Government or who want the member of their group to benefit in a particular way.
Their role in correcting, guiding and reminding the bureaucracy from time to time is very important and is considered by the American bureaucrats as normal Lobbying by the representatives of the pressure groups or the political parties have great impact on the decisions and policies of the top level bureaucrats.
The Federal Service of the United States of America has a large number of professional personnel from practically all technical kinds of functions which requires experts in almost all the technical fields.
Excluding the trades and labour functions and the post officers, over one fifth of the remainder of the Federal Service is composed of scientists, medical doctors, engineers attorneys, economics etc.
The Government is the country’s largest employer of research and applied scientists and engineers. Thus bureaucracy in America is expected to perform varied and diverse functions covering almost all aspect of the life of a common citizen.
Now the role of Public Administration in advanced countries like U.K., U.S.A. is tremendously becoming stupendous, public administrators are to share the burden of all the new and complex functions of state administration.
We have already highlighted the major functions and tasks being performed by the public administrators in Britain and United States. The role of public administrators relate to problem solving function. The Problems of the citizens of United States and United Kingdom are not simple and easier. These problems are day by day becoming complex.