The Bureaucracy: Brazil (1985)

I’m sure we have all had to sit in line at the DMV for hours only to be directed to a place where we can fill out form after confusing form. During this exciting process, you probably had to fumble through countless documents proving you to be who you say you are only to get a lamented document you could have probably made yourself with an expensive scanner and a laminating machine. I thought about it before I realized I would have committed a felony.
            It really is funny because the federal bureaucracy that implements legislative laws for the government can really do it in any manner it pleases. As long as the rules are enforced, no one minds how inefficient the process is. This aspect of the bureaucracy is extremely well presented in the 1985 film, Brazil, where countless forms are required to do just about anything. The system is completely dysfunctional and most of the people deal with it. But let us take a step back and ask, what are the misconceptions and problems of the bureaucracy?
            In the article, “Political Influence on the Bureaucracy: The Bureaucracy Speaks, by Scott R. Furlong (1998), we see that the various agencies and departments always answer to a superior. Whether a particular legislature needs a permit ignored for one of his cronies, or an environmental agency seeks to crack a deal to benefit both parties, or particular protestors who know too much need to be bribed. Being a dirty bureaucrat isn’t easy! So with all these different agencies and departments looking to secure their own interests, they must coincide with cooperation and corruption is celebrated!
            “Don’t Blame the Bureaucracy”, an article by H. Brinton Milward and Hal G. Rainey (1983), defends the bureaucracy and its inefficiencies. Ironically both authors worked for the bureaucracy, Department of Management and Department of Public Administration respectively, so I didn’t really buy it. They argue that the bureaucracy simply cannot amount to the demanded public standards, that the jobs are too difficult and that the people want too much. I can agree with that though, I despise the people who run the bureaucracy just as much as the ones who publicly complain about them. If we’re all stuck in the same crappy line at the DMV, let’s at least be in it together!                 
            So we can conclude that managing agencies or departments within the bureaucracy really isn’t easy. The public demands too much, government is usually run like a business, and stereotypes about the bureaucracy keep expanding. But maybe if the processes of the bureaucracy really are that painful and affect that many people we should embrace change. Viva La Revolucion!