ABSTRACT
CONTENTS 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 20 2.2 Administration of Susa and the Federal Elam ..........................................................21 2.3 Administration of the Median Empire .................................................................... 22 2.4 Th e World-State Persian Achaemenid Empire ......................................................... 24 2.4.1 Cyrus the Great as the Founding Father .......................................................25 2.4.2 Darius the Great and the Administrator ...................................................... 27 2.5 Organization and Administrative System of the Empire ......................................... 29 2.5.1 Th e Great King and the Central Government ............................................. 29 2.5.2 Th e Satrapy System ..................................................................................... 30 2.5.3 Central Control of the Satrapies ...................................................................31 2.5.4 Administrative Policy toward Subject Peoples ..............................................33 2.5.5 Th e Persian Bureaucracy .............................................................................. 34 2.5.6 Th e Environment of the Bureaucracy .......................................................... 34
2.5.7 Th e Bureaucratic Elite ............................................................................... 36 2.5.8 Structure and Process of the Bureaucracy .................................................. 37 2.5.9 Professionalization of the Bureaucracy....................................................... 38 2.5.10 Bureaucracy and Public Management ....................................................... 39 2.5.11 Administrative Reforms of Darius ............................................................. 40 2.5.12 Roads and Communication ....................................................................... 40 2.5.13 Economic Reforms and Financial Management .........................................41 2.5.14 Legal Reforms and Justice Administration ................................................ 42 2.5.15 Local Government Reform ........................................................................ 43 2.5.16 Conclusion: Implications for Modern Public Administration .................... 43 2.5.16.1 Lessons for Modern Public Administration and Bureaucracy .....45 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 49
2.1 Introduction Iran, formerly Persia, has one of the longest and richest traditions of public administration and civilization in the world. With a global reputation of being “excellent administrators,” Persians have, in the past, made signifi cant contributions to the global theory and practice of governance and public administration. Around 8000 years ago, the Iranian bureaucracy and public administration fi rst developed in the city-state of Susa-one of the oldest sites of ancient civilization contemporary to Sumer-and subsequently became the major institution of governance under the powerful Elamite, the Median, and the three Persian empires of Achaemenid, Parthia, and Sasanid (6000 BC-651 AD). When the Sasanid Persian Empire fell to the Islamic Arab forces in 651 AD, it had already achieved the highest level of state and administrative traditions. Its advanced cultural, state, and administrative heritage passed on to the Islamic Caliphate, who almost completely adopted the Persian state and administration systems in governing the new empire led by the bedouin Arabs. Th is heritage is alive even today, despite centuries of foreign invasions and infl uence on Iran, as Iranians have always found ways to restore and continue their past traditions and national character of independence.
