What Makes a Technocrat?

Abstract

This article challenges the assertion that civil servants with technical training can be assumed to be technocrats. Contrary to previous findings, the article argues that type of higher education is not a key determinant of variations in technocratic mentality among elite bureaucrats; instead, post-socialization provides a better explanation. One suggested post-socialization mechanism is politicisation, so the more politicized a ministry is, the less technocratic the mentality of the bureaucrats working in it. These suggestions are tested empirically by both re-analysing Putnam’s data from the late 1970s and analysing data from a total survey of elite bureaucrats working in the Government Offices of Sweden. As well as demonstrating that the ‘type of training hypothesis’ is poorly supported, the empirical analysis demonstrates that the technocratic mentality of bureaucrats varies depending on ministerial affiliation. Furthermore, the level of politicisation is connected to the degree of technocratic mentality among the bureaucrats, though not exactly as hypothesized: more politicisation indeed leads to higher ‘tolerance for politics’ among bureaucrats but, counter intuitively, also makes bureaucrats more likely to advocate neutrality rather than political advocacy among civil servants.