Bureaucratic autonomy: lessons from historians
Page, E. C.
(2025).
Bureaucratic autonomy: lessons from historians.
In
Peters, B. G.
(Ed.),
Handbook of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Politics, Resources, Power
(pp. 251 - 263).
Edward Elgar.
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803927046.00026
(2025).
Bureaucratic autonomy: lessons from historians.
In
Peters, B. G.
(Ed.),
Handbook of Bureaucratic Autonomy: Politics, Resources, Power
(pp. 251 - 263).
Edward Elgar.
https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803927046.00026
Bureaucracies have been essential actors in state formation and in building state capacity. In order to be successful in those roles, a degree of bureaucratic autonomy has been required. This chapter discusses a somewhat revisionist account of the usual story of state-building by focusing not on the very top of hierarchies but on the role played by lower-level officials. This approach provides a very different perspective on how the bureaucracy has functioned over time and may function now.