A Cross‐National Evaluation of Representative Bureaucracies: Implementation, Challenges, and Outcomes

• Author: Jyldyz Kasymova
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12342
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Date: 01 March 2015

Book Reviews

Jyldyz Kasymova is assistant professor

in the Public Administration Division,

Political Science Department, SUNY

Buffalo State. Her research interests

include citizen participation, government

transparency, representative bureaucracy,

and international public administration.

She has published in Administration &

Society, Public Administration Review,

State and Local Government Review,

Public Performance and Management

Review, and International Journal of

Central Asian Studies.

E-mail: jkasymova@gmail.com

Book Reviews 327

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 75, Iss. 2, pp. 327–328. © 2015 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12342.

Among the three polities, the case of India appears to

be the most complex, a point epitomized by the exist-

ence of a diverse number of categories of the popula-

tion falling under the def‌i nition of “minority.”  e

focus of representation policy in India is on reserving

openings in the public sector for minority groups

such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other

so-called Backward Classes (27). As a federal system,

India provides a considerable degree of f‌l exibility to

local jurisdictions in designing and implementing

locally specif‌i c policies toward the representation of

minorities. Although several ef‌f orts were made at the

national level to improve the policy of bureaucratic

representation, the author notes shortcomings of

the recent policies of preferences in India, includ-

ing the fact that af‌f‌i rmative action is not applicable

to all types of minorities. Religious minorities, for

example, are not covered under the Indian preference

policy. Furthermore, there are some discrepancies in

drawing a line between the notions of class and caste,

and loopholes for abusing the system exist—as does

politicization of the preference policy, particularly in

promoting the political interests of certain elected

of‌f‌i cials.

 e chapter on U.S. representation policy begins

with a discussion of American immigration history

and how the state af‌f ected the rights and represen-

tation of dif‌f erent ethnic groups. Historically, the

policy of preference in the United States progressed

from exclusion, segregation, and other forms of

discrimination to nondiscrimination and af‌f‌i rmative

action.  e beginning of af‌f‌i rmative action practice

at the executive level of‌f‌i cially started in 1961, when

President John F. Kennedy created the Committee

on Equal Employment Opportunity. Ever since,

diversifying the civil service system has been a

political priority (if handled in very dif‌f erent ways)

for each incoming U.S. president. Tummala’s book

also notes the leading role of the executive branch

in promoting af‌f‌i rmative action policies in the

United States, followed by the judicial and legislative

branches.

Krishna K. Tummala, Politics of Preference: India,

United States, and South Africa (Boca Raton,

FL: CRC Press, 2014). 225 pp. $69.95 (cloth),

ISBN: 9781466503892; $69.95 (eBook),

ISBN: 9781466503908.

In 2014, the New York Times published an article

about a new index that measures colleges’ com-

mitment to socioeconomic diversity in ways such

as encouraging and accepting student applications

from low-income families (Dreier and Kahlenberg

2014). Socioeconomic diversity is used in many

societies to advance representative institutions. But

the ways in which polities handle this vital matter

are dif‌f erent. Krishna K. Tummala’s book Politics

of Preference: India, United States, and South Africa

presents a highly anticipated comparative study

of three countries and their ef‌f orts to promote the

representation of minorities in government bureaucra-

cies.  e book focuses on three of the largest federal

democracies, all with dif‌f erent histories of political

commitment to af‌f‌i rmative action, which makes this

piece particularly appealing for experts and scholars

engaged in the subject as well as for policy makers in

newly emerging democracies.

In 1947, Dahl was one of the f‌i rst to note that democ-

racies are not all the same: although they share some

key attributes, each democracy has its own distinctive

characteristics based on historical, social, and cultural

developments. Tummala, to a certain extent, echoes

Dahl’s argument by thoroughly evaluating the policies

used to promote representative bureaucracies and by

demonstrating the dif‌f erences in policy implementa-

tion in each country.

 e book consists of six chapters.  e introductory

chapter elaborates the purpose of the manuscript and

justif‌i es the selection of the countries examined. Chapter

2 presents both theoretical and philosophical arguments

for advancing af‌f‌i rmative action.  e next three chapters

are devoted to each individual country case, followed

with a conclusion presented in the f‌i nal chapter.

A Cross-National Evaluation of Representative Bureaucracies:

Implementation, Challenges, and Outcomes

Sonia M. Ospina and Rogan Kersh, Editors

Jyldyz Kasymova

SUNY Buffalo State