Bureaucracy - the unaccountable public service?

In the last post I was arguing the existence of public accountability in government services. However, there is one large hindrance to the same- bureaucracy. It is a parallel system (gifted by the ingenious Brits) of government, that provided the elites with a just escape from accountability while staying in the system. The elites proved that while democracy is a good way of empowering voters, they also chided the inability of elected representatives to handle specific tasks / concepts / policies. Thus they promoted the rise of the experts, who were capable of "aiding" the elected representatives in governing the nation by providing expert advise, micro-managing daily affairs & policies, etc. These experts or bureaucrats were selected by a so called competitive exam system, but had no accountability whatsoever to the voters. While the elected representatives came & went, the bureaucrats became the true bearers of power influencing the policies (depending on their interpersonal skills).

The government /voters did try to create a barrier by providing compulsory transfers every few years, change of posts, etc etc. However, the voters failed to realize that it was a larger nexus - while the bureaucrats had different individual views, their common minimum policy was to maintain power within the bureaucracy & ensure increasing profits for their kind. They did not shirk from providing carrots to the politicians by giving them a taste of wealth that could be acquired from the public position of power. While the politicians were re-elected or thrown out based on their performance, the bureaucrats who were elites formerly, were able to forward their agenda without much deterrence from the public. They are, today, the true elites & power-bearers, deciding the fate of everyone from the rich to the poor, while enriching themselves limitlessly....

One has to only imagine a public system in their absenoe, or one where the bureaucrats are also elected / directly accountable to understand that the fear of being removed from their position completely can be the only deterrent to their power & money games. Accountability is a great threat to the responsible, but the public has been denied the right to use it on the largest control group - the bureaucrats... Time we changed this?

Posted via email from sandylief