An Annotated Bibliography: Understanding Representative Bureaucracy

This annotated bibliography focuses on the concept of representative bureaucracy, drawing from key sources in public administration and political science. It includes annotations of works by Krislov, Sowa and Selden, Weber, Merton, and Sørensen, covering topics such as the historical background and characteristics of bureaucracy, active and passive representations, administrative discretion, and the relationship between bureaucracy and entrepreneurship. Each annotation summarizes the author's main points and assesses the relevance of the work to the study of representative bureaucracy, providing a valuable resource for students and researchers in the field. Desklib offers this document along with a wide array of study tools and solved assignments.

Running head: REPRESENTATIVE BUREAUCRACY
1
Representative Bureaucracy
Outline
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Historical background
1.2 Characteristics of bureaucracy
2.0 The levels of governments
2.1 local governments
2.2 state governments
2.3 federal governments
3.0 Representative bureaucracy
3.1 active representations
3.2 passive representations
4.0 Effects of Representative Bureaucracy on the society
4.1 positive effects
4.2 negative effects
4.3 law enforcement
4.4 impact of education
5.0 references

REPRESENTATIVE BUREAUCRACY 2
Annotated bibliography
Krislov, S. (2012). Representative bureaucracy. Quid Pro Books.
The author is a professor of law and political science at the Minnesota University. The
book remains one of the most enduring books in the public administration field as its content
intersects well with political science. The book content supports the arguments of Donald
Kingsley about bureaucracy. It argues that public bureaucracies represent political institutions. It
develops an analytical framework that has empirically testable propositions in the subject. The
aspect of the topic continues to be analyzed well enough in the literature and this makes it quite
relevant in the topic of public administration. The contents explore much about bureaucracy
representation and hence significant to the study.
Sowa, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). Administrative discretion and active representation: An
expansion of the theory of representative bureaucracy. Public Administration Review, 63(6),
700-710.
Sowa is a representative of the South Carolina’s department of political science while
seldom works at the college of Lynchburg as an associate professor in the field of manage. These
tow authors have explored much about representative bureaucracy by focusing much on the
active representation. According to their work, public organization administrators operate by
addressing the needs of various groups. Their focus is on discretion as they claim that
administrators need to have the discretion of producing results and reflecting on beliefs and

REPRESENTATIVE BUREAUCRACY 3
values of the groups they lead. Their article is quite relevant to the aspect of public
administration since much of the content involves bureaucracy which is the topic of interest.
Thus it will be a critical source of content in my report.
Weber, M. (2015). Bureaucracy. In Working in America (pp. 29-34). Routledge.
The author was a sociologist, theorist in scientific management and philosopher from
German. This article offers and explanation of the theory of bureaucracy related to management
principles in a more practical manner. The article carries content in the form of definition of
bureaucracy, legal responsibility, organization of bureaucracy, and the six principles of
bureaucracy. The advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy are also explored in the article.
This makes it quite significant to the aspect of public administration, since bureaucracy is much
connected to the topic. Administration involves the selection of officials to help with
organization all of which are forms of bureaucracy. Thus the article carries relevant content that
is useful for report writing.
Merton, R. K. (1939). Bureaucratic structure and personality. Soc. F., 18, 560.
The author was an American sociologist who worked as a professor of sociology of
science at the Colombian University. His book covers much on the aspect of social structure as
composed of officials, patterns of activity which are all guided by the organizational purposes.
These officials have various obligations which they must fulfill for the structure of the
organization to remain intact. The book explores subtopics on bureaucratic structure, its

REPRESENTATIVE BUREAUCRACY 4
dysfunctions, over-conformity of structural sources, secondary and primary related sources. All
these aspects are related to bureaucracy and expound the topic of public administration by
making it more clear to the audience. This aspect makes the book very much significant as a
source of content on the bureaucratic representation topic.
Sørensen, J. B. (2007). Bureaucracy and entrepreneurship: Workplace effects on
entrepreneurial entry. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52(3), 387-412.
The author is a professor at the Stanford University specialized in the department of
public management. The article explores much about the relationship of entrepreneurship and
bureaucracy. The paper argues that behavior traits in people which are not yet observed have
much influence on the aspect of them being entrepreneurs and the way they are observed. it
claims that people who work for old and big firms have less likelihood of becoming
entrepreneurs and that this negative bureaucracy is not a reflection of nascent entrepreneurs and
their self-selection in to different firms. the content is related to the topic and thus remains of
significant use.

REPRESENTATIVE BUREAUCRACY 5
References
Krislov, S. (2012). Representative bureaucracy. Quid Pro Books.
Merton, R. K. (1939). Bureaucratic structure and personality. Soc. F., 18, 560.
Sørensen, J. B. (2007). Bureaucracy and entrepreneurship: Workplace effects on entrepreneurial
entry. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52(3), 387-412.
Sowa, J. E., & Selden, S. C. (2003). Administrative discretion and active representation: An
expansion of the theory of representative bureaucracy. Public Administration
Review, 63(6), 700-710.
Weber, M. (2015). Bureaucracy. In Working in America (pp. 29-34). Routledge.