Do Politics determine the way in which bureaucracy works?

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1,4, Hertie School of Governance, course: Executive Politics and the Problem-solving Capacity of the State, language: English, abstract: The given proposition 'politicians determine the way in which bureaucracy works' may be approached from various perspectives. Starting from the assumption that politicians today do not have complete determination over the bureaucratic apparatus, I will focus on the discussion of two strategies which politicians may employ in order to increase their power over civil servants: administrative reforms and politicization of bureaucracy. While the former may enable politicians to determine how the bureaucratic apparatus functions as a whole, the latter seeks to enable politicians to determine the work within the bureaucracy via influencing the selection process of high-level officials. This essay continues as follows: after providing a brief overview of the historic development of the power-relationship between politicians and bureaucrats until today, I will focus on the 'outside' strategy and discuss in how far politicians can initiate and direct administrative reforms, and which institutional factors determine their relative power positions vis-à-vis the administrative system. I will then turn to the 'inside' perspective and discuss the politicization of the bureaucracy as a means of increasing politicians' power.