bureaucracy

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a system of government and administration in which authority is organised through a hierarchical structure of appointed officials who operate according to fixed rules, formal procedures, specialised division of labour, and documented records; the modern concept of bureaucracy was analysed systematically by German sociologist Max Weber, who identified its key characteristics — impersonality, rule-bound procedure, hierarchical authority, specialised expertise, full-time salaried officials, and the separation of official duty from personal life — and argued that bureaucratic organisation was the dominant form of authority in modern rational societies; in public administration, bureaucracy enables predictability, consistency, and accountability in the delivery of government services and the implementation of public policy, though critics argue that excessive bureaucratic rigidity produces inefficiency, inflexibility, and unresponsiveness to citizen needs

Examples

• The planning application was delayed for months by bureaucracy — each department required sign-off before the next could proceed.
• Weber argued that bureaucracy was the most efficient form of administration precisely because it removed personal discretion from official decisions.