Public Administration

Public administration deals with how to run government efficiently. It is an act of management of public affairs. Woodrow Wilson defines it as an action part of government, the most visible side of government.

Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a Prussian political economist and journalist. He is best known for "The Communist Manifesto" and "Das Kapital." He is often called the Father of Communism and his ideas led to significant revolutions and the establishment of political systems governing over 20 per cent of the world's population. "The Columbia History of the World" mentioned that his writings as "one of the most remarkable and original syntheses in the history of human intellect." Karl Marx contributed to bureaucracy before Max Weber. Although he did not systematically write on bureaucracy. While analyzing development in society and the process of administration, he also analyzed the emergence of modern bureaucracy. He considers factors like the Industrial Revolution, Religion, the emergence of big democracy and capitalism as the basis for the emergence of modern bureaucracy. However, his thoughts were negatively related to the bureaucracy that-

• He considers it as an instrument of the state
• An elite institution
• It represents the interest of the state.
• An instrument of exploitation

Bureaucracy protects capitalist ideas and exploits the working class. It was established so that to protect the interest of the state and bureaucracy itself, being an elite class, can never think of the welfare of people. Marx compared bureaucracy with the ‘parasite of institution’ to exploit the poor section. Hence, he considers it as an instrument of the dominant class Although his views were very extreme and have been criticized. Even Lenin did not have only a negative view of bureaucracy. He considers that bureaucracy also has a positive role in a society like the administration of state, defense and security of the state. Which is an important condition for the smooth functioning of the state. However, the views of Marx can’t be completely rejected when the role of bureaucracy has been analyzed from different parts of the world. It does have class orientation and elite orientation. Even in India, it has been criticized for working for the state when police, investigating agencies, etc, act for the state, and there have been numerous politically motivated decisions by the administration, including electoral malpractices. However, bureaucracy has transformed itself and it does protect the rule of law and liberty of people.