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What makes bureaucracy work for the least advantaged? Across the world, countries have adopted policies for universal primary education. Yet, policy implementation is uneven and not well understood. Making Bureaucracy Work investigates when and how public agencies deliver primary education across rural India. Through a multi-level comparative analysis and more than two years of ethnographic field research, Mangla opens the 'black box' of Indian bureaucracy to demonstrate how differences in bureaucratic norms - informal rules that guide public officials and their everyday relations with citizens - generate divergent implementation patterns and outcomes. While some public agencies operate in a legalistic manner and promote compliance with policy rules, others engage in deliberation and encourage flexible problem-solving with local communities, thereby enhancing the quality of education services. This book reveals the complex ways bureaucratic norms interact with socioeconomic inequalities on the ground, illuminating the possibilities and obstacles for bureaucracy to promote inclusive development.
List of contents
Part I. Introduction, Puzzles and Theory: 1. Introduction: bureaucracy and the politics of implementing primary education; 2. Bureaucratic norms: a theory of implementation; 3. The state and primary education in India; Part II. Implementing Primary Education in Northern India: 4. How legalistic bureaucracy generates uneven implementation; 5. How deliberative bureaucracy facilitates adaptive implementation; 6. Norm persistence: exit, voice and bureaucratic inertia; 7. Norm change: conflict and commitment on the front lines of reform; Part III. Comparative Extensions and Implications: 8. The argument in comparative perspective; 9. Conclusion: reimagining bureaucracy for inclusive development; Appendix: researching bureaucracy and frontline public services.
About the author
Akshay Mangla is Associate Professor of International Business at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He specializes in comparative politics, political economy, development, public institutions, education, social welfare, and South Asia.
Summary
This book sheds new light on bureaucratic performance and education in developing countries. Through a multi-level comparative analysis of four Indian states, and over two years of ethnographic research, the book opens the 'black box' of Indian bureaucracy, revealing how bureaucratic norms interact with social inequalities to shape public services.
Foreword
This book examines when and how public bureaucracies work for disadvantaged citizens through a comparative study of primary education in rural India.
