ABSTRACT
The last chapter challenged, in various ways, perspectives that see public sector bureaucracies as institutions that are likely, or indeed can be, programmed in ways that make the delivery of policies a simple process in which activities are predictable or the work of functionaries can be precisely controlled. An argument, developed in earlier chapters that criticises views of the policy process as a smooth process from agenda setting to implementation, was applied specifically to analyses of the bureaucratic organisation of public administration. This chapter takes that further by concentrating upon the point of delivery of public policy, now widely labelled as the street-level.
But before a specific examination of issues about street-level bureaucrats, it is necessary to look carefully at issues about the relationship between rules and discretion which figures at the centre of this topic. While it is important to understand why issues about discretion are particularly salient at the street-level, it is important not to forget that this is the terminal point of a process in which discretionary actions have occurred at all levels in the policy process. Inasmuch as there is a structuring of discretion by means of rules, at the street-level, it is likely to be a product of decisions taken at various places in a hierarchy.
Issues about rules and discretion figure significantly in discussions of the rule of law in public administration because of the importance of questions about the legality of discretionary actions. The discussion here starts with some contributions on this subject before going on to the more general consideration of discretion in the context of the organisation theory discussed in the last chapter.
