This article begins as most do; states what its purpose is and defines some key terms. Following the introduction, Lodge provides a brief description of the South African Government’s bureaucracy and the state of corruption in other African countries. In the middle of the article, historical accounts of South Africa’s apartheid and post-apartheid corruption scandals. Finally, the article concludes by analyzing the generalization of theses accounts to try to find general trends of corruption.
Who rules in Mexico
This article describes the different theories on how the Mexican bureaucratic system works with two main themes. One is that all decision making flows upwards in a hierarchy with an elected president at the top; the variation between the theories in this regard is how much does the president rely on underlings to inform him on his decisions and how much outside influence determines his decisions. The second theme is that corruption is very much the system in Mexico, that the mexican government works with corruption efficiently.
The role of Bureaucracy in policy development and implementation in India
This article begins by giving historical context to India’s Bureaucracy. That being the British instituting plenty of structures and institutions that would help the present state, as well as hindering it with hierarchy and elitism. Then the article goes on to describe how much influence the bureaucracy has on policymaking; a lot of influence. Finally, the article concludes with a description of the discrepancy between policy creation and actual policy implementation.
Party Bureaucracy and Political Change in the United States
I really liked this article for a combination of two main reasons. The first of these reasons is that this chapter uses a visual aid in the form of a table labeling the qualities of four different types of bureaucracies that have occurred in the USA. the second reason is that it takes a historical look at governance in the US. This chapter does a good job of progressing through US history chronologically while continuing to reference the table labeling the types of bureaucracies. this really helped me keep track of what regimes in the US were classified as, as well as giving me good examples of the types of Bureaucracies through historical examples from which I already have a decent background understanding of.
Bersch Chapter 2
This chapter sets the foundation of the rest of her book by first analyzing different aspects of two competing theories on how to reform institutions. she then follows by proposing her own theory based off of more specific examples; especially in Latin America. Her theory that she sets up is that a slow-moving reform movement will ultimately be more successful than a powering one.
Svensson Summary
Svensson begins his article by contextualizing the state of research around corruption in bureaucracy as well as attempting to define corruption in the public sector as someone using his position of power against its intended use. Then, throughout the article, Svensson proposes several questions surrounding the causes and effects of corruption. Finally, he concludes by claiming that there is insufficient research on corruption to satisfyingly answer his questions.
