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The Purse Strings and the Policy Process: Bureaucratic Shaping of Industry Policy Capacity after 1945
Author(s) -
Jones Evan
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8500.00195
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , treasury , public administration , staffing , power (physics) , public policy , public service , politics , political science , economics , business , management , law , physics , quantum mechanics
Much literature in public administration debates the role of the public servant in the policy‐making process. Some literature acknowledges an integral role of the public servant in the process. However, this role often remains obscure, due to being couched in abstract terms. The hierarchical structuring of responsibilities and power within bureaucracies imparts the capacity for differential influence. This paper provides a case study of the role of the Public Service Board (power over staffing) and the Australian federal Treasury (power over the purse) in the shaping of the bureaucratic structure. The case study centres on the industry policy bureaucracy in the volatile decade after World War II. In shaping the bureaucratic capacity, the Board and the Treasury exerted a discretionary influence on the policy process itself.