John Stuart Mill's Theory of Bureaucracy within Representative Government: Balancing Competence and Participation

• Published date: 01 July 2001
• Date: 01 July 2001
• Author: Beth E. Warner
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/0033-3352.00044

John Stuart Mill’s Theory of Bureaucracy within Representative Government 403

Beth E. Warner

University of Georgia

John Stuart Mill’s Theory of Bureaucracy within

Representative Government: Balancing

Competence and Participation

The relationship between bureaucracy and representative government has been a subject of con-

cern to public administration since its inception. John Stuart Mill addressed this question in an

1861 essay, in which he explained his theory of government. Mill suggests a role for public

administration that is not only legitimate, but also necessary for good government. His writings

contain remarkable references to the concerns addressed in current theories of public administra-

tion. Mill worked to balance the spirit of popular government with governance by the most edu-

cated, skilled, and experienced of the nation, whether they were citizens, elected representatives,

or administrative officials. This article examines Mill’s theory and the contribution it makes to

current public administration discussion.

Beth E. Warner is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Sci-

ence at the University of Georgia, where she teaches public administration

and democracy, urban politics, and social service administration. Her re-

search and professional interests include public administration theory, so-

cial problems, and planning and delivery of social services. Email:

bwarner@arches.uga.edu.

The role of bureaucracy within representative govern-

ment has been a central concern of American public ad-

ministration since its inception, and it continues to be

central in important dialogue today. At the heart of this

concern is the relationship between bureaucracy and rep-

resentative government. How does bureaucracy, a hierar-

chical organization of skill and expertise, fit within a rep-

resentative government, commonly referred to as

democracy by many?

Public administration scholars have lamented the lack

of an adequate theoretical base to reconcile or explain this

relationship (Stivers 1990; Wamsley and Wolf 1996). Find-

ing an adequate theoretical base requires public adminis-

tration to be examined in its context as a component of a

political system. The most commonly referenced treatment

of bureaucracy is that of Max Weber (Roth and Wittich

1978); however, Weber never defined bureaucracy, nor did

he write a succinct description or analysis of the relation-

ship of the concepts of representative government and bu-

reaucracy (Albrow 1970).

Weber’s treatment of bureaucracy is often referred to as

though it were the earliest modern treatment of the sub-

ject. However, prior to Weber’s writings, John Stuart Mill

set out a remarkably succinct yet impressively compre-

hensive theory of bureaucracy within representative gov-

ernment. This is clearest in his essay, Considerations on

Representative Government, written in 1861, about a half-

century before Weber’s main writings on the subject (Mill

1958). Moreover, there are other reasons for the utility of

Mill’s version of American public administration: Mill’s

argument was articulated in English, with explicit and clear

reference to the kinds of issues that have been most ger-

mane to American public administration. He paid atten-

tion to developments in America and even commented care-

fully on Tocqueville’s observations and commentaries

about it (Mill 1958, 1961b, 1961c).

Mill recognized the dangers of bureaucracy, including

the potential for abuse of power and the limitations it

placed on human creativity. He also recognized that bu-

reaucracy had many benefits for representative govern-

ment. Mill warned of the dangers of democracy, as did

some of our founders, but he emphasized the importance

of the education that citizens receive when they partici-

pate in government. Mill tried to balance the spirit of rep-

resentative democracy with governance by the wisest,