Definition
Bureaucracy responsiveness, or public responsiveness, refers to the extent that administrators can track public interests in a timely and accurate manner, providing the appropriate services accordingly.
Introduction
Most theorists agree that bureaucracy responsiveness is a multi-facet concept because bureaucrats have to attend to multiple legal concerns in the pursuit of public interest. In other words, professional administrators need to maintain a balance among competing demands. Bryer (2007) identified six variants of bureaucracy responsiveness in contemporary democracy: dictated responsiveness to elected officials, constrained responsiveness to bureaucratic rules and norms, purposive responsiveness to professional goals, entrepreneurial responsiveness to customers of government, deliberative responsiveness to the public as partners or collaborators with administrators, and negotiated responsiveness to balancing...
References
Adams GB, Bowerman PV, Dolbeare KM, Stivers C (1990) Joining purpose to practice: a democratic identity for the public service. In: Kass HD, Catron BL (eds) Images and identities in public administration. SAGE, Newbury Park, pp 219–240
Alkadry MG (2003) Deliberative discourse between citizens and administrators: if citizens talk, will administrators listen? Adm Soc 35(2):184–209
Berner M (2001) Citizen participation in local government budgeting. Pop Gov 66(3):23–30
Box RC (1992) The administrator as trustee of the public interest: normative ideals and daily practice. Adm Soc 24(3):323–345
Bozeman B (2007) Public values and public interest. Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC
Bryer TA (2007) Toward a relevant agenda for a responsive public administration. J Public Adm Res Theory 17(3):479–500
Chambers S (2003) Deliberative democracy theory. Ann Rev Polit Sci 6:307–326
Chaney CK, Saltzstein GH (1998) Democratic control and bureaucratic responsiveness: the police and democratic violence. Am J Polit Sci 42(3):745–768
Denhardt J, Denhardt R (2007) The new public service: serving, not steering. M.E. Sharpe, Armonk
Fossett J, Thompson FJ (2006) Administrative responsiveness to the disadvantaged: the case of children’s health insurance. J Public Adm Res Theory 16(3):369–392
Fried R (1976) Performance in American bureaucracy. Little, Brown, Boston
Gastil J (2000) By popular demand: revitalizing representative democracy through deliberative elections. University of California Press, Berkeley
Jones BD, Greenberg SR, Kaufman C, Drew J (1977) Bureaucratic response to citizen-initiated contacts: environmental enforcement in Detroit. Am Polit Sci Rev 71:148–165
Landy M (1993) Public policy and citizenship. In: Ingram H, Smith SR (eds) Public policy for democracy. Brookings Institution, Washington, DC
Manring NJ (1994) ADR and administrative responsiveness: challenges for public administrators. Public Adm Rev 54(2):1–18
Mladenka KR (1981) Citizen demands and urban services: the distribution of bureaucratic response in Chicago and Houston. Am J Polit Sci 25(4):693–714
Nalbandian J (1991) Professionalism in local government: transformations in the roles, responsibilities, and values of city managers. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco
Rourke FE (1969) Bureaucracy, politics, and public policy. Little Brown, Boston
Schumaker PD (1975) Policy responsiveness to protest-group demands. J Polit 37(2):488–521
Stivers C (1994) The listening bureaucrat: responsiveness in public administration. Public Adm Rev 54(4):364–369
Vedlitz A, Dyer JA (1984) Bureaucratic response to citizen contacts: neighborhood demands and administrative reaction in Dallas. J Polit 46(4):1207–1216
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Liao, Y. (2017). Bureaucracy Responsiveness. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_669-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_669-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences