MODERNITY AND BUREAUCRACY

In this article, Fred Riggs examines the concept of modernity (particu larly in the context of industrialization, democratization, and nation alism), and how it has helped shape the administrative states we know today. Industrialization has vastly expanded both the tasks assigned t o all contemporary governments and the resources (domestic and interna tional) placed at their disposal. This has not only increased the need for efficiency and humane public administration, but it has also magn ified the necessity for bureaucratic power in order to ensure competen t and impartial management of public affairs but, regrettably it also enhances opportunities for corruption and mismanagement. The effect of democratization has been to replace monarchs with representative inst itutions capable of controlling and directing increasingly complex bur eaucracies -while ensuring officials the autonomy and stable guideline s they need. When these institutions fail to function effectively, as they often do, public administration can collapse and in many cases, a ngered public officials, led by military officers, seize power and est ablish bureaucratic polities marked by corruption and even greater ine fficiency. Nationalism has played a fundamental role in the creation o f modern democracies. Unfortunately, however, in many countries, inclu ding the United States, strains generated by imperial conquests and ma ss migrations have now created a host of inter-ethnic tensions and pit ifully weak states where traditional concepts of public administration based an assumed national unity are put to severe tests.