American and German Federal Executives-Technocratic and Political Attitudes

Abstract

There is no doubt that the civil service elites in modern industrial societies are involved in making public policy. This involvement inherently leads them to be intertwined with the worlds of politicians and of politics, though not necessarily in a partisan fashion. Regardless of the exact nature of these involvements with the policy and political world, bureaucrats typically look at decision making in ways different from politicians. As Max Weber observes, bureaucrats tend to give most weight to the technical point of view, because these are likely to affect their selection and career; that is, in the world of the bureaucrat, expertise and technical mastery of facts are dominant considerations. Weber's important theoretical distinctions are borne out by empirical evidence that, among other things, demonstrates a remarkably sharp distinction between bureaucrats and politicians across several European countries, and to a lesser extent in the United States, in the emphasis they give to the technical or advocacy and partisan aspects of their jobs. This article is only a preliminary effort to compare two sets of national administrative elites from the perspective of one critical element of their role understandings, the extent to which technocratic values appear to override political ones..

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