Civil servants, managerialism and democracy
By: Davies, Morton R.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 1998Description: p.119-29.Subject(s): Civil service
In:
International Review of Administrative SciencesSummary: In the 20th century democracy is the best form of government. The trouble is that the term `democracy' (which comes from two ancient Greek words - demos meaning `the people' and cratos meaning `power') covers a wide range of meanings. For example, communist East Germany used to describe itself as `democratic'. Yet, the system of government there was very different from the systems of government in Britain, France, the USA, or India. In the second half of the 20th century there have been numerous attempts to define the concept of democracy from the UNESCO study in the 1950s to a crop of academic textbooks in each successive decade. Perhaps the major obstacle to finding clear, unambiguous and unchallengable answers in this endeavour is that the word democracy refers both to a method or process of government and to a set of values and ideals that it is assumed democratic leaders will pursue. Despite the widespread debate and the sophisticated techniques which have been developed to measure `democratic' behaviour no writer has provided clearer insights than Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian economist. In his book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy he points out that: The democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people's votes. (Schumpeter, 1942)
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 64, Issue no: 1 | Available | AR38393 |
In the 20th century democracy is the best form of government. The trouble is that the term `democracy' (which comes from two ancient Greek words - demos meaning `the people' and cratos meaning `power') covers a wide range of meanings. For example, communist East Germany used to describe itself as `democratic'. Yet, the system of government there was very different from the systems of government in Britain, France, the USA, or India. In the second half of the 20th century there have been numerous attempts to define the concept of democracy from the UNESCO study in the 1950s to a crop of academic textbooks in each successive decade. Perhaps the major obstacle to finding clear, unambiguous and unchallengable answers in this endeavour is that the word democracy refers both to a method or process of government and to a set of values and ideals that it is assumed democratic leaders will pursue. Despite the widespread debate and the sophisticated techniques which have been developed to measure `democratic' behaviour no writer has provided clearer insights than Joseph Schumpeter, the Austrian economist. In his book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy he points out that: The democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people's votes. (Schumpeter, 1942)
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