Causas, efectos y eficacia de la burocratización en las administraciones públicas nacionales: Desarrollando reformas sensibles a culturas políticas singulares

Three fundamental questions about bureaucracy are examined here, ones related to the effectiveness of bureaucracy and bureaucratization. The questions are: 1) How much public bureaucracy is enough and how do we optimize the size of bureaucracy? 2) What are the normative models of bureaucracy and how does one choose among them? 3) What are the ends of bureaucracy and, specifically, how can "Public Values-Focused" bureaucracy be achieved? To the extent possible, the paper answers those questions in the context of a variety of contingency variables; especially political culture and the political culture focus of greatest interest pertains to nations of Latin America. In a nutshell, the paper concludes size optimization is not meaningful without the specification of a large number of prior contextual variables, the main components of which are specified. The normative models reviewed, after assessing the idea of "failed bureaucracy, "pertain to cost containment, neutral competence and public value notions. The document concludes by suggesting that a key to public value bureaucracy is establishing a high level of professionalism and an attendant high degree of bureaucratic autonomy.