Beersheva (Israel), Febuary 1997

Political Control of Bureaucracy in Democratic Systems:

February 16-18, 1997 saw more than a dozen SOG members, both old and new, arrive on the campus of Ben Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel. Following welcoming remarks by Nachum Finger, Rector of the host university, conference conveners Joel Aberbach of UCLA and Fred Lazin of BGU, ably steered the group over the next three days through no less than nine panels on themes ranging from formal models on institutional design to carefully done case studies in specific settings.

Not surprisingly, much of the debate revolved around the differences between Westminster, other parliamentary, and presidential systems. Thomas Hammond presented the first paper, a theoretical piece on veto points, policy preferences and bureaucratic autonomy that spanned both parliamentary and separation-of-powers systems. Papers by John Halligan, John Power, and Graham Wilson specifically addressed the issue of control in Westminster systems while papers by Colin Campbell and Thomas Schwartz focused on the issue of control in the United States. Guido Dierickx, Moshe Maor and Ulrich Klöti provided an important non-Westminster/US perspective by presenting papers on the European Union, Denmark and Norway, and Switzerland respectively. Sandeep Shastri's paper on India presented a interesting view of a system that while nominally falling under the Westminster rubric nonetheless operates with assumptions and expectations that in many ways differ from those found in Westminster systems.

Milton Esman and E.W. Kelley provided more broadly based theoretical accounts of the issue of democratic control, Esman by contrasting the legal-rational and entrepreneurial-user images of control, Kelley by focusing on differences in the structure of electoral competition and candidate recruitment. More specialized papers were given by Herman Bakvis on the role of management consulting firms in executive­ bureaucratic relations; Nathan Brown on Arab administrative courts and judicial control of the bureaucracy; Benny Hjern on local democratic control of professional organizations in Sweden; and Gerald Steinberg on democratic checks and balances in decision-making for weapons procurement and defence industries in Israel.

Overall, despite differences in approaches, settings and scale encompassed by the papers presented, what became clear was how central the nature of the linkages between citizens, elected leaders and civil servants - and the paramountcy of leaders over civil servants - are to determining the character of democracy in both western and non-western systems, and at the local as well as national and even international levels. This point became evident in the session on the Monday evening on the "State in the Making - PLO", where theory and hard realities in the form of immediate and pressing problems came together in dramatic fashion. Chaired by political geographer David Newman, who also gave a superb introduction to the issues, the session saw excellent papers presented by Hillel Frisch on Customary Law, Accountability and Democracy in the Palestinian Authority, Manuel Hassassian on Palestinian Democracy, Citizenship and State Formation, and Ira Sharkansky on "Managing Jerusalem and other vexatious problems: the usefulness of accommodation, coping, ambiguity, improvisation and above all politics". The last was a wonderfully contrary and thought-provoking piece, especially for those of us who generally believe in the virtues of clarity and unfettered lines of accountability. All three papers were ably discussed by Mohammed Dajani of Bethlehem University.

We are all obliged to the conference conveners, Joel Aberbach and Fred Lazin for putting together an excellent and stimulating program and to Fred Lazin for sharing with us the special flavour of his country's geography, history and politics. Particular thanks are due to Conference Organizer, Erica Rieman of BGU, for ensuring that the conference took place with barely a hitch. Also deserving praise and thanks are Yitzhak Galnor for his thoughtful keynote address at dinner on the first evening, the other members of the organizing committee - Asher Arian, Gideon Doron, David Newman, Ira Sharkansky, Gerald Steinberg and Ephraim Torgovnik - and Harvey Feigenbaum for acting as roving discussant.

Herman Bakvis