Why, then, does bureaucracy persist when it can be counterproductive, costly, and trust-eroding?
Partly because of inertia. Once bureaucratic frameworks are established, they tend to sustain themselves—creating roles, hierarchies, and processes that resist change. They encourage caution, prioritizing risk avoidance over innovation, because following procedure feels safer than venturing into the unknown. Yet this same caution often clashes with the agility needed for citizen-centered service in a fast-changing world.
But there’s also a deeply human reason behind bureaucracy’s persistence, and this requires its own journal.