Administration and public power: unknowns and proposals for the Mexican bureaucracy

Abstract

State intervention requires public administration based on an institutional framework that legally and politically organizes the strategic mechanisms of public sector institutions. The efficiency of public administration depends on the degree of bureaucratization and the type of bureaucratic leadership, as well as on the decentralization of the public sector; of the quality of the information and diagnosis in their administrative processes, and of the political consensus and the participation of citizens in the improvement of the administrative processes of the institutions. However, the more decisions are focused on authority, it is often the case that these interventions increasingly become inefficient economically, socially, and politically. The relationship between public administration and democracy becomes problematic, authoritarian elements participate in the administration, while in a democracy it observes intrinsic opposition and features that address inequality.

The problem of the distribution of power is an old topic, its interest has been observed since the first civilizations. In recent decades the concern is the location of power. This document aims to contribute to the understanding of the structure and dynamics of the bureaucracy and public power through the reflection of the category’s public administration, contingency, and democracy. It is concluded that the economic and political variations that permeate the Mexican State are represented in the structure and organization of the public administration. The history of the public function and its actors translate the relationship of Mexican society with public power and its conception of democracy.