LIST OF PANELS

Public bureaucracies are important actors in the policy process, and scholars of public policy need to understand better their role in making and delivering public policy. The concept of bureaucratic autonomy is useful in that understanding, and has been widely used in the literature on public policy and public administration (see Peters, 2022), but yet remains less specified than would be desirable. The term is taken to mean, in a rather common-sense yet useful manner, that public sector organizations are relatively unconstrained, and are capable of making their own decisions. To be more useful, however, a number of aspects of bureaucratic autonomy need to be specified:

What level are we talking about?–the institution as a whole, organizations, or individuals

Autonomy from what and whom?–politicians, private sector actors, superiors within the organization, what else

Decisions about what?–policy, budgets, personnel.

How formal does autonomy need to be? –can informal autonomy be as effective

How much bureaucratic autonomy?–the importance of accountability

The above list of dimensions might be extended, but the basic point should be clear. To use this concept successfully will require additional specification and the creation of “autonomy with adjectives” (see Collier and Levitsky, 1997) to be able to differentiate types of autonomy and understand their potential for explaining the behavior of individuals and organizations, and their impacts on policy choices. We believe that when fully specified the concept of bureaucratic autonomy can provide insights for comparative policy studies, both across countries and across policy areas.

The panel organizers will develop a framework paper for this panel containing a typology of bureaucratic autonomy based on the interaction of sources of control. We will circulate this paper  to panel participants well in advance of the panel. We would welcome papers that elaborate (and criticize) this framework. We would especially welcome papers that will use the framework to evaluate the degree of bureaucratic autonomy in different settings

Collier, D. And S. Levitsky (1997) Democracy with Adjectives: Conceptual Innovation in Comparativ Research, World Poltiics 49, 430-51.

Peters, B. G. (2022) Understanding Bureaucratic Autonomy: Existing Approaches and a Way Forward, Paper presented at Southern Political Science Association Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX

The panel organizers will develop a framework paper for this panel containing a typology of bureaucratic autonomy based on the interaction of sources of control. We will circulate this paper  to panel participants well in advance of the panel. We would welcome papers that elaborate (and criticize) this framework. We would especially welcome papers that will use the framework to evaluate the degree of bureaucratic autonomy in different settings.  Those settings can be defined by policy sectors, levels of government, or different countries.