Street-Level Bureaucracy
- Ensuring effective, efficient, uncorrupt, and non-abusive operation of civilian bureaucracies is arguably the central challenge of governance in the modern world. What do you think would ensure bureaucratic responsiveness and performance in public management?
- In theory, electoral accountability ensures bureaucratic responsiveness in democracies. How effective do you think the electoral mechanism is likely to be in practice?
- Decentralization has long been touted as a mechanism to improve bureaucratic responsiveness and performance. Do you agree with this assessment?
- How embedded should officials be in local networks?
- What is the cause of “street-level” corruption in government agencies in the developing world? How does Tendler’s diagnosis differ from that of most economists? Based on your diagnosis, what sorts of remedies would you suggest?
- What went wrong in northern Karnataka with a major attempt to improve the delivery of public goods and services?
- The modern state is composed of separate entities delivering different types of goods and services. Looking cross-nationally (or across subnational units within one country), are some parts of the state more prone to corruption or gross incompetence than others?
