ABSTRACT
To introduce some of the bureaucratic literature pertinent to public administration, this entry restricts itself to the following themes: bureaucratic scholarship in historical context, the organizational form of bureaucracy, the importance of the political environment for public bureaucracies, public bureaucracies in an economic framework, and the evaluation of bureaucracy as an organizational form. This entry suggests that future research will focus on how bureaucracy affects and is affected by its environment, particularly its political environment in the case of public bureaucracies. Further, the changing role of bureaucracies as part of governing in a networked and globalized world will also become a fruitful area of study.
