ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses literature on the development of government organization in the Western world from the moment that territorial and functional differentiation was reintroduced. The curia regis was the organization from which certain tasks separated and developed into specialized government departments. The chapter discusses modern ideas about organization, the bureaucratic ideal-type, differences and similarities between medieval, early modern, and modern organization. It presents a descriptive theory on the development of organization in the Western world. The chapter discusses the literature on territorial (re)organization, functional (re)organization, councils, work processes and techniques, and public policy-making. Traditional organizational theory focused on rather static characteristics of organization: division of labor, span of administration, departmentation, and unity of command. An organizational structure reflects the ideas the designers had as to how the objectives of the organization could best be attained. Thus tasks and activities can be organized on various principles: function, clientele, geography or process.
