Bureaucracy and Democracy (Cont’d)

1. Bureaucracy and Democracy (Cont’d) January 17th, 2005

2. Liberal Democracy and Bureaucracy • confluence • bureaucracy is good in that it emphasis impartiality (over participation) • dissonance • danger is if bureaucracy becomes too powerful and threatens individual rights • “Big Brother” • imperative • make sure that bureaucracy is tightly constrained (e.g. tight rules) • subject to individual rights protection (e.g. Charter, privacy protection, FOI, etc.)

3. Elite Democracy and Bureaucracy • confluence • top-down and hierarchical nature of bureaucracy is good • effective mechanism to pursue the general welfare • dissonance • danger if bureaucracy becomes too powerful and undermines competition among elected/political elites • e.g. development of a permanent non-elected bureaucratic elite making decisions • ultimately decisions must be ratified by elected elites • imperative • ensure that elected elites can be reasonably held accountable for decisions • ensure bureaucracy with high level of professionalism, merit and commitment to public service (while ensuring that they have adequate scope to expercise these capacities)

4. Participatory Democracy and Bureaucracy • confluence • effective mechanism to pursue the general welfare • e.g. to put into effect the will of the majority • dissonance • top-down hierarchical nature of bureaucracy is bad • excessive focus on impartiality (over participation) is bad • imperative • ensure that bureaucracy is representative of the population • provide opportunities for democratic participation (e.g. consultations, citizen input, bottom-up initiatives) • ensure accessibility and transparency

5. Public Administration in Canada... • the structure of the Canadian bureaucracy (and its interface with elected officials) represents a particular response to these various concerns and imperatives!! • What is that response???

6. Part II: The Political-Bureaucratic Interface in Canada

7. Cabinet Government • what is it? • collective sharing of executive power • how is the structure of cabinet government determined? • the Prime Minister • who becomes PM? • prerogatives of the Prime Minister (vis-a-vis cabinet) • size and structure of cabinet • departmental organization • cabinet committee structure • appointments to cabinet • cabinet agenda • cabinet decisions

8. Principles/Roles/Actors in Cabinet Government • relationships NOT roles • not generally legally prescribed • considerable room for manoeuvre • organic link between different relationships • nature of any given relationship has implications for the nature of other relationships • change in any one set of relationships implies changes in other sets of relationships • relationships are based on tradition but also on continuing acceptance of the obligations/rights inherent in them • implicit bargains

9. Centralized Accountability: Collective Ministerial Responsibility • what is “responsible government”? • the executive must maintain the confidence of Parliament • what is collective ministerial responsibility? • all ministers must resign if the cabinet loses the confidence of Parliament • what constitutes having the confidence of Parliament? • what pre-conditions would the operation of collective cabinet ministerial responsibility require?

10. Centralized Accountability: Collective Ministerial Responsibility • requirements (enforced by PM) • cabinet solidarity • cabinet secrecy • cabinet documents exempt from Freedom of Information • the problem of leaks • why would cabinet ministers agree? • price of being in cabinet • collective self-interest

11. Diffuse Accountability: Individual Ministerial Responsibility • what is individual ministerial responsibility? • do ministers typically resign for errors committed in their department? • no...not if they can help it!! • why not? • minister is answerable publicly (to parliament) for the actions of their department • regardless of whether the minister was in charge at the time a problem occurred • ministers are responsible for correcting problems within their department

12. Diffuse Accountability: Individual Ministerial Responsibility • why would individuals agree to accept this role? • price for exercising power