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Public Administration vocabulary · Bureaucracy and Procedures

Bureaucracy

Meaning in public administration, with examples

/bjʊəˈrɒkrəsi/nounCore term

In public administration, bureaucracy means: A system of administration based on fixed rules, written records and a clear hierarchy of officials; in everyday speech, also slow and complicated official procedures.

In Turkish: bürokrasi

How it is used

Neutral in academic texts, where it often refers to Max Weber's model of rule-based administration, but usually negative in everyday talk: too much bureaucracy, cut bureaucracy. The people are bureaucrats, and the adjective is bureaucratic.

Example sentences

  1. Weber saw bureaucracy as the most rational way to organise large institutions.

  2. Small businesses complain that there is too much bureaucracy involved in getting a licence.

Common collocations

  • cut bureaucracy
  • layers of bureaucracy
  • state bureaucracy
  • bureaucratic procedures
  • red tapeOfficial rules, forms and procedures that seem unnecessary and slow things down, especially when dealing with public bodies.
  • hierarchyA system in which people or units are arranged in levels of authority, with each level reporting to the one above it.
  • procedureAn official, fixed set of steps for doing something, such as applying for a permit, handling a complaint or approving a payment.
  • paperworkThe routine work of preparing, filling in and filing the documents and forms needed for an official process, or those documents themselves.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Bureaucracy and Procedures

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