Abstract
Control of bureaucracy is essential for democratic government systems based on separation of powers. Because the bureaucracy has the potential to get out of political control and act as a power on its own. It is necessary to determine which mechanisms are effective in the control of bureaucracy among government systems. In general, the parliamentary system is said to be more advantageous than the presidential system in controlling and directing the bureaucracy. The fact that there is a strict separation of powers in the presidential systems causes two negative results in terms of regime. First, the inability of the politicians to have a full effect on the bureaucracy may result in weakening of the system and problems in control of bureaucracy. Second, the lack of coordination over senior bureaucrats, weakens the control capacity of political power.
TopDemocracy And Bureaucracy Relations
The essence of democracy refers to manage by the majority. Therefore, it cannot be expected to be in harmony with the bureaucracy expressing management under the control of an elite executive group not elected by the public. Weber is of the opinion that modern bureaucrats are a new elite group thanks to their expertise and can control politicians. The main problem Weber expresses here is the mismatch between the bureaucracy and the essences of democracy. On the one hand, bureaucrats are deemed compulsory and necessary because they have technical knowledge and on the other hand their effectiveness contradicts the idea of majority management. The fact that the basic features of bureaucracy and democracy are different from each other may prevent these two structures from working together in harmony. The bureaucracy as the commanding command, requires a hierarchical workflow operating from head to toe. However, democracy requires a bottom-up structure in which all sections of society can contribute. Democracy is very sensitive to the demands of the people whereas the demands of the people are not very important in terms of bureaucracy (Koven, 1994:74). In this case, the question of how to find a suitable place for bureaucracy within a democratic policy is raised. Because disabling bureaucracy actually means disabling the state. A state structuring that does not have a bureaucracy or has transferred its functions to the private sector is not possible even in today's technological conditions. For this reason, states need bureaucracy and it is not possible for any state to perform without bureaucrats.
Bureaucratic and democratic structures may not be fully compatible with each other. However, this does not mean that bureaucracy and democracy cannot coexist. While bureaucracy solves problems, it focuses on hierarchical, top-down approaches. Democracy takes into account data from all layers of society. In this respect, it can be said that the value sets of both are different from each other. In all democratic societies, there are fault lines originating from their nature between bureaucracy and democracy. Breaks in these fault lines sometimes appear in the form of dislike for civil servants or bureaucracy (Koven, 1994:92).
Many writers have long drawn attention to the drawbacks of bureaucracy in terms of democracy. This fundamental separation between democracy and bureaucracy is also valid for the management of modern societies. For example, Mosca states that in his work “The Ruling Class” there is an authority called government in all societies and they are divided into “rulers” and “ruled”. Mosca states that even in democratic governments where the will of the people is dominant, the will of a minority called the ruling class, always dominates the will of the majority (Öztürk, 2017: 103).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Governmental System: Government systems are a whole of rules and institutions applied for the distribution and regulation of legislative, executive, and judicial forces that make up the state structure.
Democracy: A form of governance in which political control is directly held by the people or representatives of the people's free choice at regular intervals, regardless of the social and economic situation, all citizens are considered equal.
Separation of Powers: Refers to the division of government responsibilities into distinct branches to limit any one branch from exercising the core functions of another. The intent is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances.
Merit System: A system or policy whereby people are promoted or rewarded on the basis of ability and achievement rather than because of seniority, quotas, patronage, or the like.
Bureaucracy: Term refers to an audience of public officials and rank officers tasked with ensuring the conduct of the state administration. Bureaucracy in general; specifies a specific form of organization and management.
Regime: Regime consists of written and unwritten rules, norms, principles that regulate the interactions of both political authorities and all individuals who make up the political community, and at its core is the constitution.