Max Weber, (often) credited with the birth of sociology, the science of social studies, said that the 'ideal bureaucracy' consisted of a system that was efficient, worked fast but yet remained precise, wasn't ambiguous, had knowledge of the files it held, continually discreet, has strict subordination, reduction of friction whilst maintaining the lowest possible material and production costs. While Weber's statement is itself ambitious (and highly unlikely that a bureaucracy containing all those characteristics could exist in either the US or UK political systems) if a bureaucracy did exist with those characteristics it would be incredibly effective and useful to the administration of the time. In the US there has always been a long held view of negativity against civil servants and to that end, the term bureaucrat has become one of insult. In fact in 1982 a poll showed that 74% of US citizens thought that Federal Government was being badly run. The same is true of the UK, where the civil service and civil servants have been synonymous with delays, paper work and interference. Indeed the latest head of the Civil Service, Sir Andrew Turnbull, who is often thought of as a Civil Service modernise, especially by the Prime Minister, was brought in to do just that to the Civil Service.…
