Ancient s to receive a position in the bureaucracy of
Imperial China. Although the term
bureaucracy first originated in the mid-18th century, organized and consistent administrative systems existed much earlier. The development of writing ( 3500 BC) and the use of documents was a critical component of such systems. The first definitive example of bureaucracy occurred in ancient
Sumer, where an emergent class of
scribes used
clay tablets to document and carry out various administrative functions, such as the management of taxes, workers, and public goods/resources like granaries. Similarly,
Ancient Egypt had a hereditary class of scribes that administered a
civil-service bureaucracy.
Ancient China In
China, when the
Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) unified China under the
Legalist system, the emperor assigned administration to dedicated officials rather than nobility, ending feudalism in China, replacing it with a centralized, bureaucratic government. The form of government created by the first emperor and his advisors was used by later dynasties to structure their own government. Under this system, the government thrived, as talented individuals could be more easily identified in the transformed society. The
Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) established a complicated bureaucracy based on the teachings of
Confucius, who emphasized the importance of
ritual in family, relationships, and politics. With each subsequent dynasty, the bureaucracy evolved. In 165 BC,
Emperor Wen introduced the first method of recruitment to civil service through examinations.
Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) cemented the ideology of
Confucius into mainstream governance by installing a system of recommendation and nomination in government service known as
xiaolian, and a national academy where officials would select candidates to take part in an examination of the
Confucian classics, from which Emperor Wu would select officials. In the
Sui dynasty (581–618) and the subsequent
Tang dynasty (618–907) the
shi class would begin to present itself by means of the fully standardized
civil service examination system, of partial recruitment of those who passed
standard exams and earned an official degree. Yet recruitment by recommendations to office was still prominent in both dynasties. It was not until the
Song dynasty (960–1279) that the recruitment of those who passed the exams and earned degrees was given greater emphasis and significantly expanded. During the
Song dynasty (960–1279) the bureaucracy became
meritocratic. Following the
Song reforms,
competitive examinations took place to determine which candidates qualified to hold given positions. The imperial examination system lasted until 1905, six years before the
Qing dynasty collapsed, marking the end of China's traditional bureaucratic system.
Ancient Rome A hierarchy of regional
proconsuls and their deputies administered the
Roman Empire. The reforms of
Diocletian (Emperor from 284 to 305) doubled the number of administrative districts and led to a large-scale expansion of Roman bureaucracy. The early Christian author
Lactantius ( 250 – 325) claimed that Diocletian's reforms led to widespread economic stagnation, since "the provinces were divided into minute portions, and many presidents and a multitude of inferior officers lay heavy on each territory." After the Empire split, the
Byzantine Empire developed a notoriously
complicated administrative hierarchy, and in the 20th century the term
Byzantine came to refer to any complex bureaucratic structure.
Modern Persia Uzun Hasan's conquest of most of mainland Iran shifted the seat of power to the east, where the
Aq Qoyunlu adopted Iranian customs for administration and culture. In the Iranian areas, Uzun Hasan preserved the previous bureaucratic structure along with its secretaries, who belonged to families that had in a number of instances served under different dynasties for several generations. The four top civil posts of the Aq Qoyunlu were all occupied by Iranians, which under Uzun Hasan included: the vizier, who led the great council (
divan); the
mostawfi al-mamalek, high-ranking financial accountants; the
mohrdar, who affixed the state seal; and the
marakur , who supervised the royal court. Through the use of his increasing revenue, Uzun Hasan was able to buy the approval of the
ulama (clergy) and the mainly Iranian urban elite, while also taking care of the impoverished rural inhabitants. The
Safavid state was one of checks and balance, both within the government and on a local level. At the apex of this system was the Shah, with total power over the state, legitimized by his bloodline as a
sayyid, or descendant of
Muhammad. To ensure transparency and avoid decisions being made that circumvented the Shah, a complex system of bureaucracy and departmental procedures had been put in place that prevented fraud. Every office had a deputy or superintendent, whose job was to keep records of all actions of the state officials and report directly to the Shah. The Shah himself exercised his own measures for keeping his ministers under control by fostering an atmosphere of rivalry and competitive surveillance. And since the Safavid society was meritocratic, and successions seldom were made on the basis of heritage, this meant that government offices constantly felt the pressure of being under surveillance and had to make sure they governed in the best interest of their leader, and not merely their own. The
Ottomans adopted Persian bureaucratic traditions and culture.
Russia The Russian
autocracy survived the
Time of Troubles and the rule of weak or corrupt tsars because of the strength of the government's central bureaucracy. Government functionaries continued to serve, regardless of the ruler's
legitimacy or the
boyar faction controlling the throne. In the 17th century, the bureaucracy expanded dramatically. The number of government departments (; sing.,
prikaz ) increased from twenty-two in 1613 to eighty by mid-century. Although the departments often had overlapping and conflicting
jurisdictions, the central government, through
provincial governors, was able to control and regulate all social groups, as well as trade, manufacturing, and even the
Eastern Orthodox Church. The
tsarist bureaucracy, alongside the
military, the
judiciary and the
Russian Orthodox Church, played a major role in solidifying and maintaining the rule of the
Tsars in the
Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721) and in the
Russian Empire (1721–1917). In the 19th century, the forces of change brought on by the
Industrial Revolution propelled many countries, especially in Europe, to significant social changes. However, due to the conservative nature of the Tsarist regime and its desire to maintain power and control, social change in Russia lagged behind that of Europe. Russian-speakers referred to bureaucrats as () because of the rank or () which they held.
Ashanti Empire The government of the
Ashanti Empire was built upon a sophisticated bureaucracy in
Kumasi, with separate
ministries which saw to the handling of state affairs. Ashanti's Foreign Office was based in Kumasi. Despite the small size of the office, it allowed the state to pursue complex negotiations with foreign powers. The Office was divided into departments that handled Ashanti relations separately with the
British,
French,
Dutch, and
Arabs. Scholars of Ashanti history, such as Larry Yarak and
Ivor Wilkes, disagree over the power of this sophisticated bureaucracy in comparison to the
Asantehene. However, both scholars agree that it was a sign of a highly developed government with a complex system of
checks and balances.
United Kingdom developed a sophisticated bureaucracy. Pictured, the
Custom House in the
City of London. Instead of the inefficient and often corrupt system of
tax farming that prevailed in
absolutist states such as France, the
Exchequer was able to exert control over the entire system of tax revenue and government expenditure. By the late 18th century, the ratio of fiscal bureaucracy to population in Britain was approximately 1 in 1300, almost four times larger than the second most heavily bureaucratized nation, France.
Thomas Taylor Meadows, Britain's consul in
Guangzhou, argued in his
Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China (1847) that "the long duration of the Chinese empire is solely and altogether owing to the good government which consists in the advancement of men of talent and merit only", and that the British must reform their civil service by making the institution
meritocratic. This led to implementation of
His Majesty's Civil Service as a systematic, meritocratic civil service bureaucracy. In the British civil service, just as it was in China, entrance to the civil service was usually based on a general education in ancient classics, which similarly gave bureaucrats greater prestige. The Cambridge-Oxford ideal of the civil service was identical to the Confucian ideal of a general education in world affairs through humanism. Well into the 20th century, classics, literature, history and language remained heavily favoured in British civil service examinations. In the period of 1925–1935, 67 percent of British civil service entrants consisted of such graduates. Like the Chinese model's consideration of personal values, the British model also took personal physique and character into account. Under
Louis XIV of France, the old nobility had neither power nor political influence, their only privilege being exemption from taxes. The dissatisfied noblemen complained about this "unnatural" state of affairs, and discovered similarities between
absolute monarchy and bureaucratic
despotism. With the translation of
Confucian texts during the
Enlightenment, the concept of a
meritocracy reached intellectuals in the West, who saw it as an alternative to the traditional
ancien regime of Europe. Western perception of China even in the 18th century admired the Chinese bureaucratic system as favourable over European governments for its seeming meritocracy;
Voltaire claimed that the Chinese had "perfected moral science" and
François Quesnay advocated an economic and political system modeled after that of the Chinese. The governments of China, Egypt, Peru and Empress
Catherine II were regarded as models of Enlightened Despotism, admired by such figures as Diderot, D'Alembert and Voltaire. French civil service examinations adopted in the late 19th century were also heavily based on general cultural studies. These features have been likened to the earlier Chinese model.
The industrialized/globalized world By the mid-19th century, bureaucratic forms of administration were firmly in place across the industrialized world. Thinkers like
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) and
Karl Marx (1818–1883) began to theorize about the economic functions and power-structures of bureaucracy in contemporary life.
Max Weber was the first to endorse bureaucracy as a necessary feature of
modernity, and by the late-19th century bureaucratic forms had begun their spread from government to other large-scale institutions. The
tertiary sector of economies began to increase relative to the size of the primary and secondary sectors. The term
"white-collar" as applicable to bureaucratic employees occurs from 1910. Within
capitalist systems, informal bureaucratic structures began to appear in the form of
corporate power hierarchies, as detailed in mid-20th century works like
The Organization Man (1956) and
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955). Meanwhile, in the
Soviet Union and
Eastern Bloc countries, a powerful class of bureaucratic administrators, the , came to govern nearly all aspects of
public life especially when state planning and control expanded into the economic sphere. The 1980s brought a backlash against perceptions of "
big government" and of its associated bureaucracy. Politicians like
Margaret Thatcher and
Ronald Reagan gained power promising to eliminate government regulatory bureaucracies, which they saw as overbearing, and to return economic production to a more purely capitalistic mode, which they saw as more efficient. In the commercial world, managers like
Jack Welch gained fortune and renown by eliminating bureaucratic structures inside corporations. Still, in the modern world, most organized institutions rely on bureaucratic systems to manage information, process records, and administer complex systems, although the decline of paperwork and the widespread use of electronic databases is transforming the way bureaucracies function. ==Theories==